Mirrored Worlds
by Joshiro.ukitake
Summary: When you consider that there might be other worlds out there, you think of the human world and Hueco Mundo, possibly even Hell, but would you consider another Seritei? (Note: some references to ships, but very few)
1. The Mirror

_**ok, so if you've read any of my stories before, you will know my favourite characters, this story however is quite different to a lot of my other stories, so I hope you guys like this story, it's a role play idea I'd love to try with someone but I made it into a story instead :) so enjoy**_

_**bleach belongs to kubo tite and likely always will, I do however own the story line and rp idea featured in this story**_

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><p>~<em><span>a few thousand years ago<span>_~

_He honestly tried not to fall asleep, but the temptation was just too much, he was shocked back to the living as his name was called and stood blurting out what he'd started dreaming about 'it's real I tell you!' The class stared at him for a second before it erupted in laughter. The teacher, Yamamoto-sensei just looked annoyed bringing his hand down heavily on his desk in irritation 'shunsui! You will stay back after class.. Focus!' It was another moment before the class was settled again and shunsui sat, it was embarrassing but he laughed it off with the rest if the class grinning at Yamamoto 'hai sensei'. With another sigh he gives shunsui a meaningful look before continuing on with the class 'now.. Since we all here.. Any questions about what I've just taught you?' A few hands went up and questions were fired away, shunsui puts his hand up 'say, its a bit off topic, but say there is this world, is it possible that an existing world exists that's identical to this one?' Yamamoto looks annoyed 'what does that have to do with kido?', shunsui frowns 'so is it possible? If it was, could you visit the other world and meet yourself?' Yamamoto clenches his fist 'detention.. Don't speak again this lesson!'_

_~Seritei Now~_  
>Shunsui was suddenly woken by a familiar voice that was a little annoyed 'excuse me kyouraku taicho... Would you please get off my floor before I send you home in pieces..' Jushiro was sitting at his desk sipping tea in his uniform and indeed didn't look impressed. Shunsui sits up with a yawn and stretch before smiling 'gomen.. But your floor is just so comfortable Juu..' Jushiro sighs 'please.. Would you be a normal being for just a little... It's distracting to have you snoring while I am having a break..' Shunsui chuckles 'I can't promise that.. But I can give it a go, just for you' he smiles playfully, jushiro looks at him with irritation 'why are you here anyway.. Does nanao know your here?'. Shunsui brings his hands to rest behind him relaxed 'well.. Probably not.. I didn't tell her..' Jushiro sighs and brings a hand to his forehead 'you are a monster... You should be kinder to your subordinates... And me...' Shunsui smiles 'ah, but I love my nana-chan... And I definitly wouldn't be here without you.. I love you too' jushiro just rolls his eyes before an urgent knock interrupted the chat. 'Ukitake taicho, kyouraku taicho, head taicho requests your presence..' The two instantly look serious and jushiro forgets his tea putting down the cup and standing 'we will report shortly, thank you' shunsui gets to his feet and follows jushiro with a thoughtful look 'I wonder if he fell over...' Jushiro looks at him and then sighs defeated 'you are horrible..'<p>

~_meanwhile: on the outskirts of Rukongai~_  
>A young girl and her boyfriend of only sixteen were playing chase in the fields on the outskirts, a loud crack shocked them both tripping them up, suddenly their was a large what looked like a tear standing on it's own just a few metres away, it had come from nowhere and it didn't look anything like a hollow tear, the girl looks afraid and gets up to shy behind her boyfriend "what is that...". Her boyfriend gulps biting his lip "I-I don't know... It just.. Appeared..". The girl steps back "hey, let's go home.. It could be dangerous...". The boy steps back reluctantly staring at the mirror, it was strangely enticing, a part of him wanted to run, another wanted to inspect the mirror, but he nods and backs away "yeah, let's go.." The two then turn and run back to rukongai quickly escaping just incase. It wasn't long before the mirror which had immediately alerted the research division was surrounded by shinigami keeping the public from interacting more with the mirror.<p>

There had been few times in history that these tears had occurred, they were named endless doors as in the past people had been sent through but not returned, jushiro and shunsui had some experience in the past dealing with such tears and thus the two were to help mayuri out with research. They were sent as guards while a research crew studied the door, the tear had the possibility of disappearing at any point in time, it could be there for days or mere hours, this time it seemed the tear remained over night, a tent was constructed nearby for the evening and shunsui and jushiro sat chatting while watching the researchers, it wasn't the most interesting work but a few hollows were lured to the collection of souls in the field, it wasn't till midnight that something happened, a child had snuck out of rukongai with natural curiousity to look at the mirror, most people were sleeping by then, and the child sneaked past the shinigami to get closer. The mirror reflected the starlit evening and instantly fascinated the child. Shunsui was laying on the ground content to chew on some grass while jushiro kept an eye on things, he noticed the child late however and just as the child went to touch the mirror he saw it. The child didn't expect to fall through the mirror and instantly disappeared through the surface, jushiro stands quickly and shunsui looks up in surprise "what?". Jushiro looks worried "a child went through the tear... I saw it too late to stop him.." Shunsui sits up immediately looking at the mirror "I didn't feel anything though? Are you sure?" Jushiro nods already feeling guilty and shunsui looks at him "wait... You not going to go through are you? You don't know if you can get back.." Jushiro looks at him "I can't just let it go.. It's immoral..." Shunsui frowns worried "I know... But we can't afford to lose you... " jushiro takes a breath "... I won't be able to sleep...". Shunsui groans... Admittedly he's right... "I swear... Fine... Five minutes... If you have no luck by then... You have to come back... With or without the kid..." Jushiro nods pulling out his soul communicator "I'm not sure if it will work... But I'll keep this on me..." He then doesn't take another moment before flash stepping to the mirror and walking through without hesitation.


	2. The Reflection

**I do have many of these chapters pre written but I will tray and space out their posting, so I'm not running out of content before I'm finished and you guys have to wait and such, so I hope you don't mind :) **

**bleach does not belong to me, only the story does, oh, and of course the other side of the mirror is mine :)**

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><p>~The Other Side of the Mirror~<p>

Upon stepping inside the mirror he almost instantly fell but landed on his feet, however he looked around in shock recognising the same field he just left, the mirror was not quite in the same place, it seemed to rest in mid air, he would easily be able to reach it though. Jushiro quickly turned his attention to his soul communicator which seemed to immediately recognise the area as soul society as well, the silence was interrupted by a child's scream and Jushiro instantly shunpoed to the area he heard it from, he approached an almost identical looking Rukongai, however it was different, aged perhaps, the already shaggy huts had been left for the trees and vines to grow over them, no one seemed to be here though, though his senses betrayed him, he could definitely feel something here. The child had tried to find her home but when she did she found unexpected occupants and got scared, Jushiro easily found her, she had tried to hide unsuccessfully.

He quietly approaches and kneels down looking gentle "excuse me little one..." She jumped and squealed again looking nervous, she had started crying "t-taicho...?" Jushiro nods "hai, you seem to be a little scared.. Are you ok?" He offers his hand and she takes it reluctantly "hai..." Jushiro helps her to her feet "did you see something here?" She nods and then looks afraid of something behind him "behind you!" Jushiro instantly grabs her close to shunpo a distance away expecting an enemy but instead seeing a dog... It didn't exactly looked dangerous, but another dog poked it's head out of the house and the scream seemed to have got the attention of many other pairs of eyes that most seemed to glow in the dark, it was off putting and it immediately made him nervous, the girl a little shocked by the movement holds the captain tight afraid. Jushiro gently shifted her to his side holding her with one arm so he could use his zanpaktou, the dog seemed to back away nervously as if sensing he was dangerous, and so did all the other sets of eyes receding back into the homes which were so familiar, he then realised he sensed another approaching reiatsu, one that seemed extremely familiar, sickly familiar in fact, he recognised it as his own.

Suddenly his soul communicator beeped, shunsui was calling him, jushiro answered swiftly "hai" shunsui sounded worried "what are you doing? Are you ok? Did you find the kid?" Jushiro decided to shunpo back to the field putting some distance between the approaching soul "I found her... But you won't believe it... It's a mirror soul society, there's a presence coming... It feels similar to my reiatsu..." He felt a little ill as the reaitsu didn't hesitate to follow them rather swiftly, shunsui sounds shocked "what? Can you get out? What are you waiting for..." Jushiro sounds unsure "the presence is following me... What if it followed me there... It's too dangerous..." Shunsui sighs frustrated "I half expected this to happen... Alright... Just come back when you can then... But hurry...". Jushiro snaps the communicator shut before looking at the girl with a gentle smile "I know you must be scared, but don't worry, I will get you home soon, promise" his smiles was reassuring and the girl nods holding him tight, Jushiro turns his attention to the new Rukongai just as the presence appeared in the distance, however, the presence didn't seem human... It seemed to stop to simply stare at him, before stating to walk slowly, Jushiro stood on guard putting a hand on his hilt watching in silence.

The animal slowly became more visible and then stopped about ten steps away, the beings seemed to share a look of shock, Jushiro saw what seemed like a big cat of some sorts, he can't tell exactly which type, but it wore a white coat which he would recognise anywhere, a captains haori. The cat also had white hair near exactly like his, the cat seemed to recognise himself in Jushiro as well, after a moment of staring the cat bows it head respectfully "I don't wish to fight you..." Jushiro swallowed his shock despite the cat also sounding a lot like him "I would prefer it not to come down to a fight also..." Jushiro reluctantly brought his hand away from his zanpaktou despite his instincts telling him not too, he bows respectfully back. The cat seemed just as shell shocked and wary as Jushiro "if I may approach you, I promise no harm will come to you..." Jushiro nods reluctantly "it's rude to speak from a distance...". With permission the cat slowly approaches and sits a few steps in front of Jushiro peacefully, further proving that in some way... The cat and Jushiro seemed to be the same person... Just with different forms... The cat was about as tall as Jushiro's thighs and was indeed a bobcat, even in the minimal light Jushiro recognised what the cat was "I don't intend to be a threat here... I was merely bringing this child home...".

The cat looks at the child "I see... That is reasonable... I am glad she is being looked after... I was worried when I heard a child had fallen through...", the cat looks at Jushiro "I have a feeling I don't really need to tell you this... But my name is Jushiro Ukitake..." Jushiro can't help but feel stunned "uh... Then there's not much I need to tell you either then... I am also... A pleasure to meet... You.." The cat looks equally as uncomfortable, his tail flicking "a pleasure... This is a rather strange meeting..." Jushiro nods "yes...". The child seeing that the cat wasn't mean loosened her hold a little "is there two Taicho's..." Jushiro, the human who was holding her smiles a little "it does look like it..." The cat looks at his human counterpart "may I meet your child?", the human looks at the child "that is up to the child... But I am sure... You... I..." He can't help but be confused... "Won't hurt her.." The cat nods raising his paw smiling gently "I don't even have my claws out..." The girl looks nervous but allows jushiro to kneel down so the cat may meet her.

the girl reluctantly looks at the cat and he looks back "what is your name child?" The girl looks unsure at the human counterpart who still held her secure before looking back "rei..." The cat smiles "that's a nice name.." He gently puts a paw on jushiro's knee and bows low "it's a pleasure to meet you". The girl blushes and hides in the haori of the human looking at the cat shyly "your a little cute..." The cat chuckles "I tend to hear that a lot..." The human watched thoughtfully finding the experience a little amusing, the girl blushes a little worse "can I pet you?" The human looks a little unsure but the cat just chuckles offering his head "of course my lady' the girl reaches out nervously and gently touches him and pats him "your very soft..." The cat looks amused and sits "thank you" ?the human looks thoughtfully amused "you don't seem to have an issue with things like this..." The cat shakes his head and smiles "no, we have a settlement of humans here, the children enjoy visiting me as they live close to my home..." The human gently puts the girl down and she a little nervous moves closer the the rather large cat, he was tall as her sitting down. She gently pats him and the cat smiles "I like a scratch behind the ear" he hints playfully, the girl smiles a little bigger and follows his hint, sure enough the cat instantly moved into her hand happily, the human chuckles watching.

The cat then lays down and the girl kneels beside him to rub his belly, this which the cat also enjoyed sighing "I like you rei..." The girl giggles and hugs the cat "you are pretty, I like you too" the human looks up at the mirror "well this certainly has been an... Interesting experience... I wouldn't mind staying and finding out more about this world... But unfortunately my nurse will get mad if I don't get enough sleep tonight" he muses, the girl looks a little dissapointed and let's the human pick her up again, the cat sits up "you have the same problem... How ironic... Is your nurse perhaps Unohana-Taicho?" The human chuckles "yes, so I'm sure you understand..." The cat nods smiling "yes, well I'll report back and perhaps we will meet again" the human nods "that would be quite interesting, take care taicho" the cat nods and turns to start pacing back to seritei, jushiro then jumps up to step through the mirror again.

~The Human Seritei~

Shunsui sat anxiously on the other side and looked deeply relieved to see the two return, Jushiro excuses himself to return the child home before returning to sit beside Shunsui again with a sigh "that was certainly an interesting experience..." Shunsui looks worried "what happened... You took too long..." Jushiro smiles "I'm not sure you would believe me if I explained it..." Shunsui frowns "go on.." Jushiro looks amused "well... It was another soul society, like I told you... That reiatsu however... It was similar to mine..." Shunsui nods impatiently "yeah?" Jushiro bit his lip "it turns out it was me... But me from that world... It's quite litterally is a mirror world.." Shunsui looked stumped, disbelieving "what... He looked like you?" Jushiro nods "he was me... His nurse is unohana taicho... Though he likes a good scratch..." Shunsui raises an eyebrow "what..." Jushiro chuckles "he was quite litterally a bobcat, as in animal, almost reached my hips in height... He was huge.. He even had my hair and eyes.. Wore a haori too... It was rather strange..." Shunsui nods and looks at the ground "you know normally I'd say you should get some sleep and I do recommend that to you... But..." He sighs "you know how ridiculous that sounds right?" Jushiro nods amused "of course... I told you you would have trouble believing it... But.. I will take your advice and get some sleep... I'm tired... So your watch" Jushiro stands before waving cheerfully and heading into the captains tent "good night" Shunsui waves and shakes his head "yeah..".


	3. The Start of an Adventure

**bleach belongs to kubo tite, only I own the mirror idea though**

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><p>~The Human Seritei~<p>

Jushiro slept well that night and woke early like usual in high spirits, something about the strange encounter with himself was intriguing, it fascinated him to no bounds, the mirror though vanished about mid morning, he was slightly disappointed but it just meant he could let his mind wander about possibilities, Shunsui was rather weirded out by his good mood, aware that Jushiro doesn't lie, and he was speaking too honestly to call a lie either, the story though was too strange to really believe. Shunsui decided to call it a day at midday because even if he was working, he wouldn't be able to focus. Jushiro was as usual up to date with his own work and by midday he was as free as a bird, that was about the time he noticed his soul communicator. it's coordinates seemed off and it seemed to show more information than what existed around him, particularly when he was walking through Seritei, according to his communicator, there were unknown plant life around Seritei, Which that definitely wasn't right as Seritei was kept in flawless order. he started perhaps thinking that it was still aligned to the world on the other side of the mirror, the buildings he had seen did seem to fit the description of the world he had partly seen. He decided against having it checked and instead just replaced it while keeping his old one, it fascinated him to no ends.

It was about the time Jushiro was at home when his soul pager beeped, but it wasn't his new one, it was from his old one detailing a message about a hollow in the thirteenth, the phone beeped again as an answering message was sent if that, ten minutes later "mission complete", it was signed though by himself. Jushiro looks thoughtful and sits on his bed full of questions, was all this really possible, he wondered if he could contact the other world like this. Jushiro sighs lying down and looking at the phone, after a fair while of letting his mind wander he decided to shower and then settled down to eat, the phone however beeped once, then twice, and finally a third time, he picked it up and read the messages with slight shock "there seems to be an unknown connection to this line" the other captain seemingly reacted "I will investigate the cause". the third time however he had received a private message "I have my suspions as to who you are, and I only ask you clarify them for me, who are you?".

Jushiro was surprised, that message was definitely from the captain... But it was also definitely speaking to him, Jushiro nods and replys "I am Taicho of thirteenth division, Jushiro Ukitake" for a few minutes the phone was quiet and he ate a few mouthfuls of his dinner, when the phone beeped again it was another private message "it seems I was correct, turns out we were meant to meet once more, did your technology perhaps link to ours?" Jushiro chuckles at the message replying "it seems so, my soul communicator recognised your Seritei and has been showing me strange readings all day, I found this rather fascinating so I didn't get my communicator realigned" the message it seemed was answered quicker this time "well, I can't say I'm honestly surprised, I would probably do something similar... But I suppose there is a reason for that... Would you grace me with a call Taicho?" Jushiro smiles replying "if you don't mind me intruding at this hour Taicho..." Jushiro then finished his meal before the phone beeped again "it's really no bother, I am rather fascinated by today's events".

Jushiro really wasn't sure if calling would actually work but he was willing to give it a go, after his hair was brushed, it was dry enough now and it had bothered him being messy, once it knotted, it was extremely painful. Jushiro then clicked on the mystery contact and it actually started to dial, after a few beeps the call was answered by the cat "I would assume it does work then Ukitake Taicho" the human counterpart smiles "hai, so it seems, I half expected it not to work... Our worlds must be rather similar..." The cat chuckles "perhaps that's it... So then you have been seeing our seritei on your device then?". The human nods "hai, at first I didn't realise because they were so similar... But it became obvious when there were said to be trees growing in the halls..." The cat sounds interested "excuse my curiosity but what is your Seritei like?" The human looked thoughtful "well I didn't see much of yours but I believe based on what my communicator has showed me, my world differs to yours in that we keep our Seritei clean, we don't allow trees and such unless they are in gardens..." The cat sounds thoughtful "here the trees and vines act as pathways, the roofs are too tall for me to jump up on them alone so I have to climb trees and such" the human smiles "ah, I understand... If I may... What happened to your Seritei?" The cat chuckles "it's a rather long history but I will tell you the basics, about a thousand years ago there was a civil war, back then humans lived here in equal numbers to us animals, up until the war we worked together. During the war, the humans tried culling us off, losing the war though they left to go to another world because back then we had the ability to traverse the tears safely. Way back when, the animals, such as myself were experimented on and we gained human abilities".

The human listened fascinated "that's rather incredible" the cat smiles "really? What of your world then?" The human chuckles "well we are a pure human race, however I'm not sure if it's the same for you, but soul society is just that, the world of the dead, we shinigami form the divisions to protect the human world and such... I have a Feeling you already know this though..." The cat nods thoughtfully "the Gotei has much the same purpose here... Excuse me if this is a rude question but you sound like a young race", the human muses "not particularly, I am over two thousand years old" the cat seemed surprised "really?" The human chuckles "yes, I am one of the few remaining of what's called the original Gotei, but that's a whole another story". The two captains chatted for quite a while about topics ranging from history to the antics of their seemingly identical best friends, it was rather late before they realised what time it was, apparently they both had a habit of spacing out while doing something whether it be talking with someone or paperwork, they both agreed though for their own safety, they should both get some sleep. These phone calls ended up happening pretty frequently, at least once a week if not more for a time, all at night when it was quiet, after a few weeks the cat had started talking about the mirrors though.

Apparently their research division had learned how to not only detect the mirrors but predict were they would appear, but not just that, they'd been working on it for a while but they had just made a breakthrough discovering how to make their own mirrors, it was still to be researched as they hadn't quite figured out how to keep the mirror open for a long period but they were looking at being able to explore different tears at will, it finally got to a point where the cat asked if the humans would like to participate in the research, it was a mirrored point as they both agreed to take their information to twelfth the next day. Mayuri was of course fascinated by the information, immediately interested in the concept, each jushiro gave their own mayuri the other worlds statistics and it was a mere hour before the two mad scientists themselves exchanged information between each other and started working together with the promise of letting each other have the others data. It was no more then a month and a half before the two mad scientists had figured out a method to open new tears and keep them open indefintly, of course closing them at will as well. Of course after the success the scientists moved onto other topics, experimentation being a favourite topic of course. it was at this point that the two worlds were able to interact with each other more easily now and that's where many amusing things happened.


	4. You Learn Something New Every Day

**bleach does not belong to me: only the mirrored world does**

**note: my beta is a bit busy so I am editing the story myself... So if you find mistakes, it's likely my fault... But I am trying to avoid that... So I hope you guys don't mind, enjoy the story :) **

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><p>~The Human Seritei~<p>

"Mattaku... Why do I have a feeling I'm going to regrets this.." Shunsui sighs laying on the floor of Jushiro's office, Jushiro just give him a look "don't complain, you don't need to be here.." Shunsui looks up at him "your not even feeling well are you? Why did you agree to this today?" Jushiro frowns getting irritated "please Shunsui... Shut up... I am really not in the mood, go if your so bothered, I'm not keeping you here..." Shunsui sits up with a frown "I just don't think you should be doing these experiments like this..." As tempers go, Jushiro normally didn't have one, he was extremely difficult to piss off, even worse to make him mad enough to abuse you in any way whether it simply be telling someone to leave him alone really rudely(yes even that was tame compared to some people). This all changed though when he wasn't feeling too well, he could be very short tempered particularly with Shunsui, there were only a few times he had snapped gently at rukia though but it occasionally did happen. At this point in time though, Jushiro had had enough and glares at Shunsui "last time I'll ask, drop the subject..." Shunsui sighed before deciding it was in his best interests to just shut up "fine" Jushiro nods before returning to his papers, he had agreed to participate in an experiment where they were attempting to create a tear outside of the lab, everyone else was busy at the time so despite Jushiro wanting to politely decline due to his health, since he wasn't needed to go somewhere, he said yes for peaces sake. The twelfth division sent over four members about midday where they would set up their device in Jushiro's garden, when they were ready, Jushiro and Shunsui headed to the area. Rukia who'd noticed her captains mood had tea and some of his favourite snacks brought out for Jushiro. Jushiro was surprised by the kind thought and it did cheer him up a little, the tea helped settle his stomach and the sweets where made by Unohana Taicho so they also helped settle his illness.

Finally with Jushiro sitting looking over the garden pond and Shunsui laying on the grass beside him, the device came to life with a whurr, it failed a few times as they needed to fix some things but finally they had an open tear. The other world was given the signal and after it was returned, finally the guests were allowed to travel through, Jushiro and Shunsui from the other world had agreed to participate so they were to be the guests, fortunately the cat Jushiro felt much better then the human counterpart did, so it wasn't too much of a worry for them. It was rather odd as the large bobcat walked out of the mirror looking around curiously, though there was a rather large bird beside him that stood taller then the cats shoulders, the bird had long thin legs and was a brown colour, a big fluffed up tail hung behind him, his wings were also rather large tucked by his side, his features however had a scruffy look to them, the birds identity was unmistakable as he wore the same hat, haori and pink flowered coat as Shunsui, the bird was obviously his counterpart and even had the long hair with the random strand of hair hanging down over his eye. Human Shunsui politely hid his shock, and nodded to the guests as did human Jushiro putting on a polite smile "welcome Ukitake Taicho.. And Kyouraku Taicho... If I'm not mistaken..." The bird looks at human Jushiro nodding his hat "indeed I am.. What tipped me off?" He smiles playfully, Jushiro muses "you are very hard to mistake... Not to be rude" human Shunsui sits up shifting his hat and nods politely to the bird and the bird instantly understands, the bird chuckles "not at all, I understand clearly" the cat sits politely and nods to Shunsui instantly recognising him as well.

Jushiro looks to the researchers then "so what is it you wish to test?" The researchers look at the paperwork "we are testing the effects of prolonged exposure as well as tear limit and time.". Jushiro nods "hai, please tell me if you need anything then" Jushiro then turns his attention to his guests "make yourself comfortable please" he smiles, the cat nods smiling before looking thoughtful "excuse my rudeness Taicho... But you don't seem very well..." The bird looks at Jushiro and then the cat, Jushiro looks a little surprised he noticed "Ah... Well truth be told today isn't the most convenient..." Shunsui looks at the cat, still a little weirded out mind you "how can you tell..", the cat smiles a little unsure "truthfully I can smell it in the breeze... " the bird frowns "that's a little creepy Juu.." The cat looks apologetic "I can't help it... I have a rather sharp nose.." Jushiro nods understanding "it's fine, I am not bothered.. A little surprised... But that's all.." Shunsui chuckles "the perks of being a big cat I guess..". The cat nods and then looks at shunsui "have you perhaps been drinking kyouraku taicho?" Shunsui looks surprised then smiles "yeah... Seems I've been caught out too.." The bird looks at shunsui and then frowns "and you didn't. Invite me? Geez.. I feel left out..." Shunsui chuckles "Gomen, I'll give you an invitation next time" Jushiro looks at shunsui then shakes his head. The peace was suddenly disrupted by a fizzle and the whurr stopped, scaring the bird and cat a bit. The mirror device had sparked and started smoking, the mirror was no longer open.

Jushiro looks over at the researchers questioningly promoting a nervous response "sorry taicho! We will get it running as soon as possible... It may take.. A little... Though.." Jushiro sighs and nods "it's fine, if you don't mind then, we will return when your ready?" The researchers nod and Jushiro sighs before picking up the finished tray and standing "please, this way, I will get you some refreshments" Shunsui stands following suit and the bird and cat nod "thank you...". After relocation to a guest room that was empty, jushiro set down cushions and had more tea and snacks brought for his guests, sake of course for the two drunks. After everyone had settled, they started talking again, the cat laid down comfortably head on his paws happy, the bird sat as well skilfully using his wing to drink his sake, well practiced in the art, shunsui was fair to say Impressed, he sat up lazily following the conversation peacefully as well, the conversation started at the experimentation and everyone seemed to have a complaint or two about their respective mad scientist, though it wasn't long before the conversation went to a completely different topic, the differences between the worlds, after a while rukia knocked and kneeled at the doorway "Ukitake Taicho, there's on order for a hollow" Jushiro, and the cat both looked at her, the cat out of habit, Jushiro nods "where is it?" Rukia looks up "on the outskirts of rukongai... I've been requested to go" Jushiro looks thoughtful "how long do you think you will be" Rukia looks unsure "I'm not sure, I was going to run some errands for you sir before I returned" Jushiro nods "alright, that's fine Kuchiki-San" Rukia nods and smiles before leaving once more. The bird chuckles "she is as cute as your Kuchiki-San Juu" the cat sighs "your horrible Shun..." Both Shunsui's laugh and the human smiles "it seems like your world is almost identical to ours.." Jushiro sighs "in several ways...".

It seemed like forever before Jushiro got a hell butterfly from the researchers "our deepest apologies, we will not have the device fixed until tommorow morning, everything is settled on the other side, please tell your guests" Jushiro instantly looks irritated upon reading the butterfly and then looks apolegetic "it seems as though you will be unable to return home tonight, my deepest apologies" the cat looks surprised then frowns "what's the issue?" Jushiro shakes his head "I'm not sure, but it seems I will have to offer you a room for tonight.." The cat nods "that's fine.. Thank you for your kindness" Jushiro smiles "it's nothing, it's our fault after all that your here.." The bird shrugs it off "I'm not worried, I wouldn't mind exploring this place really.." Shunsui chuckles "if you like I'll show you around" the bird smiles "sounds like a plan.." The cat looks at the bird sternly "if I have to come find you, I am dragging you by your neck..." The bird nods with a sigh "yes dad... I promise I'll behave" Shunsui stands "alright then, I'll be back in a bit then.." Jushiro gives nothing but a healthy warning glance at Shunsui which got the message through sufficiently. Shunsui held his arm out so the bird could land on there and they took off chatting lively, Jushiro could relax slightly then, only slightly though as now he was worried they were going to get up to somthing. It seems the cat shared his thoughts and they both sighed and then chuckled, the cat smiles a little "it seems like our best friend worries us both.." Jushiro nods "so it seems... Though I don't have the energy to babysit him today..". The cat looked slightly worried "are you really ok..." Jushiro nods and smiles a little "I am sure I just need a decent rest...".

The cat nods "if it's not rude to ask.. I was wondering if you were afflicted similarly to myself... I have a tendancy to fall ill easily myself, although my symptoms are that of coughing blood.." He quiets a little toward the end looking unsure, Jushiro looks slightly surprised "you might be surprised to learn, but I do have a similar affliction, though I have no cause..." The cat looks at him confused "no cause?" Jushiro nods "it's not known at least.." The cat looks thoughtful "well in my personal experience, I believe the original experimentation was what caused my own affliction... But I was barely conscious at that time... So I'm not sure.." Jushiro ponders this for a moment "it's odd anyway..." The cat nods in agreement before rolling on his side and stretching with a yawn and settling comfortably once more, jushiro looks at the cat thoughtfully "will you need assistance with anything this evening?" The cat looks thoughtful only now realising he won't be able to do his normal routine "well... Usually my human looks after my needs and such but as I'm not home, that might be difficult... I am capable of looking after myself though.." Jushiro looks at the cat "are you sure..." The cat nods "I guess I haven't explained it yet have i... I told you our DNA had been experimented on, but did I tell you the full extent of powers it gave us?" Jushiro shakes his head "I don't believe so" the cat smiles "it's actually rather intriguing, if I do say so myself, but admittedly it is unnatural" Jushiro looks interested before coughing lightly and sipping his tea "unnatural? It sounds like a long story" he muses, the cat nods "sort of... It's more complicated, but I'll tell you about it anyway" he chuckles "you seem intrigued", Jushiro nods "you seem to know me rather well already.. I'm listening" he muses.


	5. Twins

**so I hope you guys are liking the story! I for one love this story... But I could be biased too :) either way**

**bleach doesnt belong to me. Only the mirrored world content does**

* * *

><p>~The Human Seritei~<p>

Since the two Shunsui had left the two Jushiro's to their own devices for a while as they both seemed irritable... One more so then the other, they decided to go have a look at Seritei chatting, they were basically exactly same apart from appearance and much like in the same manner the two Jushiro's met, they immediately became friends, enjoying each other's somewhat crude sense of humour. Jushiro and the cat however were just as easily lost in their own conversations, Jushiro found the cats history fascinating. though the conversation was a rather gory one, the cat spoke of his own experiences "well I believe I was one of the first they experimented on... They didn't exactly know what they were doing at that time, so I seemed to take irreparable damage to my organs... Let's just say my body doesn't exactly work all the time, there will be times where I have organs failing on me.. It's rather inconvenient if I do say so.. But somewhere in my experimentation I acquired some unnatural will to live" the cat chuckles "somehow I always seem to find a way to get back to health..." The cat looks thoughtful "it was about a year or so before the true extent of what had happened to me showed it's colours.. I believe I was having a dangerously high fever and my being was somewhat unbalanced, I couldn't control it but I found the more unsettled I became, any water around me seemed to mirror it, it took a day of progressively getting worse for the water to rather defy the laws of gravity around me" he nods thinking back "I don't remember much from that time as I was rather ill, but I recall being taken in by the researchers again and tested when I was well again, I discovered I could manipulate water...".

Jushiro listening looked intrigued "what to mean by that.." The cat sits up and lifts his paw, amazingly a pool of water seemed to come up from the floor but then float following his palm, Jushiro looks surprised and then curious "that is rather interesting.." The cat smiles dropping the water "I was rather shocked at this point... It's a lot to take it, stress seemed to make the power so much more dangerous as well, I found out water could be sharper then any one of the tools they'd been using to cut us up with... The first two lives I took were an accident.." He looks at Jushiro "though I should probably explain, at that point we were basically kept in cages, despite our now human thoughts, we were still only test subjects, my claws had been cut and I was constantly muzzled.. So when I discovered what they had done to me I was afraid.. I killed the first by accident, the water peirced him through.. The next was also the same, but it hit me then.. I didn't understand but I knew I could escape.. So I did.. Somehow escaping from the huge building they were keeping us all in" Jushiro looked shocked and listen silently, the cat continued "after that.. I lost control not sure how I did any of what i did in the first place, I was cut and scarred, unfortunately I didn't think at the time to free myself from the muzzle so I could no longer free myself of it" the cat goes quiet "I had stumbled into this maze of buildings of halls and I got Lost.. Many people who found me wanted to kill me.. In fear I accidentally killed more.. It wasn't until a woman found me.. Her name was Miyako Shiba..".

Jushiro looks shocked at the name but retains his questions so the cat can continue "she found me just when I'd given up, I had unknowingly stumbled into the division I am now captain of.. And she found me in a garden.. I was too weak to stand then, however she was different, she wasn't afraid of me and the first thing she did was free me of the muzzle binding me.. She then brought me water and when I could handle it, food... When I had the strength to stand she said, if you follow me, I promise to look after you, but you can go if you like now.. I knew I wouldn't survive.. And I think she knew that too.. But she still gave me the choice.. I decided to follow her.. And she kept her word.." The cat smiles at the memory, the first night, her husband saw me and was immediately worried for my health, as was she, while miyako bathed me and looked after my wounds, kaien prepared tea and food for me.. I hadn't even spoken yet.." It went on for weeks, these two humans nursing me back to health... I was afraid to speak though.. When they found out they were surprised but after weeks they simply said, ah.. And all that time we could have told each other stories..." He sighs "they weren't even bothered.. They were the ones that started the revolt on animal cruelty and ended up freeing everyone else still left in that hell... And that was when the treaty was made it took another few years but the animals soon joined the ranks of the humans if they, like me, had acquired a power that could help protect Seritei... Unfortunately I was forever to be plagued of the illness that had been given to me in those halls.. But I didn't really mind after I found the shiba family... They actually helped me find my human form... And the rest of my hidden abilities".

Jushiro looks a little confused "a human form? And I'd believe that of the shiba family... They were two of the best people I have ever had the pleasure to work with.." The cat looks up "have you also got a Shiba family..." Jushiro looks a little depressed at the memory "yes... Kaien Shiba used to be my lt.. I trusted him with my life... Miyako was my third seat... I'd never seen a happier or kinder pair... Unfortunately they fell to the same hollow... But even so, I am proud to have met them..." The cat looks saddened by the thought "I'm sorry... I can understand your loss..." Jushiro nods and smiles "they were favourites among the division, they would be disappointed with me if I got too upset about what happened now though... You said you had a human form though.. Excuse my curiosity... But please explain.." The cat nods "I found out that if I concentrated, I could change my form... Well actually I should clarify.. I also found this out by accident.. And I was rather terrified at first..." Jushiro looks thoughtful but he couldn't really imagine what the cat would look like.. Surely he wouldn't be a mirror image of himself... The cat looks thoughtful "I know I say human... But I don't think the form could really be called human... How to explain.." He looks unsure then looks up at jushiro "would you perhaps have a unform I could borrow?" Jushiro looks surprised at the random change of topic "of course but... I'm not sure if it would suit your needs.." The cat smiles "I will make do, it will be fine" Jushiro nods unsure what the cat was planning and stands to take a neatly folded unform out of a cupboard and placing it in front of the cat "if you'd like the bathroom is just in there" he nods to the room and the cat smiles "thank you, I'll return in a moment then" the cat picks up the uniform before pacing into the side room, Jushiro sips his tea cluelessly.

It was a few minutes before the bathroom opened again though Jushiro was shocked by his guests appearance, by all accounts the cat now looked like a mirror image of Jushiro himself, only it was so different, it was obvious he wasn't human, the cat, as explained, was now human, but did not look it, his body was well toned only his shoulders, which he had left unclothed, were covered in fur that faded to a human chest, skin and all, however there were faint scars staining the skin, the fur covers his arms down to the backs of his hands, the palms and fingers were also human skin, the front of the neck and face apart from the very borders which were also lined with fur were human skin as well, only his eyes were that of the bobcat he was, the face though looked tattoed as there were the face marks from his bobcat form where his human features were, he also still had the fur cat ears and tail, the cat human sat down lightly in front of Jushiro with only the pants on but carrying his shirt and now human haori, he didn't wear it though presumably as he felt it disrespectful to the human captain "this form is a little hard to describe... I felt it easiest to show you" Jushiro nods "I can understand that.." He wasn't so much as disturbed by the form, it was just a little shocking and fascinating rather, Jushiro looks unsure "you found this form by accident?" The cat smiles a little "I woke up one day to a scream... Followed by my own scream... I gave Miyako quite the scare but after I started freaking out she realised it was new to me and tried to calm me down instead..." Jushiro imagining the scene easily now "I can understand that... Are your abilities different in this form.." The cat nods inspecting his hands and retracting his claws "oddly I still am able to control my claws like this.. My senses remain as heightened as they were before as well, my elemental control though seems stronger and I have excellent hand to hand capabilities..." Jushiro smiles "I would imagine those claws would be dangerous yes.. Do you use blades over there?" The cat looks thoughtful "some people have mastered using a blade... I did train in the art for a time... My senses helped me with that... But for some reason I have never really been comfortable holding a blade..." Jushiro looks curious "really?" The cat nods "I did however notice you carrying a blade... You must differ from me in that manner..".

Jushiro looks thoughtful "I dislike having to use my blade... But don't get me wrong.. I would be extremely lonely without my blade..." The cat looks thoughtful and a bit confused "is your blade really that important to you?" Jushiro nods "hai... Perhaps that deserves an explanation..." The cat looks at Jushiro realising the humans blade wasn't actually at his side "where is your blade if it's so important.." Jushiro smiles realising "ah, I must seem strange saying that without having it beside me... Let me start at our rules, there is a rule stating that anyone of captain class is limited to their use of their zanpaktou, which are what we call our blades, as captains we are the most dangerous even without our blades.. But with them we are more so, only during war times are we captains allowed to carry our blades with us at all times, I often choose not to carry mine with me unless I'm leaving the division, and it is usually close to me at all times if I don't have it on me" the cat nods "I see.. Then this means your at peace then.." Jushiro nods "yes..." The cat then looks confused "so then.. Zanpaktou...?" Jushiro looks thoughtful "a few years after your start at the shinigami academy you recieve a blank blade, this blade from then on is yours and only yours, this blank blade is exactly what it sounds like, in the time spent beside you, you imprint your soul onto the blade and it becomes your zanpaktou... To put it simply... A zanpaktou it the manifestation of your souls abilities, much like your ability to manipulate water" the cat looks thoughtful processing the words "how?" Jushiro searches for words before continuing "well.. I'm not sure if it's the same over your side but in ours, everyone has their own abilities represented by their sword, each sword also has a name.. As funny as this might sound, your zanpaktou is a part of you, the other half of your soul, as such it becomes it's own being, and it lives in your soul...".

He knows this sounds confusing and the cat doesn't really understand "so... Are you saying the blades are essentially alive... That seems impossible..." Jushiro nods "it does sound strange yes, but you have the right idea, however the souls live inside" he puts a hand on his heart, the cat looks a little confused "then what are the blades then.." Jushiro smiles "well they are basically just a manifestation of the soul that lives inside, the blade allows you to use your powers, think of it like an instrument" the cat frowns "so.. Where did the powers come from then?" Jushiro puts his hand to his heart once more "they come from the being inside." The cat takes a second to process this and then uses his hands to demonstrate "so there two souls right? Yours and your power? Your power is alive and the blade is the device to use it.. Right?" Jushiro nods "perfect" the cat looks thoughtful "so then are the blades really special or is it just the other soul?" Jushiro looks thoughtful "well the blades are just as important as the other soul, see you need to talk to the other soul to learn how to use your power, they teach you... When you learn the souls or the blades name, you can then use your power, not before then" the cat nods "but why? Is a name really that important... And then aren't you essentially talking to yourself?" Jushiro smiles "yes, essentially you are... But the name is extremely important, communication is everything" the cat frowns "so what happens when you learn the name then?" Jushiro frowns "well then you can what you call release your blade, in releasing your blade, you become more powerful, but not just that, your blade changes shape, it looks like what your power looks like..." The cat was a little lost again "I'm not sure I understand, what would power look like?" Jushiro looks thoughtful before standing "follow me..." The cat stands unsure and follows Jushiro out of the room, Jushiro steps into his room to pick up his blade in one hand and then continues out past his garden and too an open courtyard, Jushiro then motions to the cat "please stand on the grass there.. It's safer".

Despite Jushiro not really feeling well enough for this, it was his turn to show his guest something new, he comes to stand in the centre of the courtyard and unsheathed his blade and mounting the sheath by his side before taking a breath and warning sogyo, he then holds his blade forward with both hands before chanting his release so his guest can hear him "waves, rise to become my shield, lightning, strike to become my blade, sogyo no kotowari" in a quick movement, jushiro instantly pulls apart the hilt of his blade, it separating into two as he did, a rope connecting the two ends, the blades thinned and then the top backwards blades formed as the guard extended down the blade, the courtyard had immediately filled with pressured wind from the release and it subsided quickly, the cat stared in shock and Jushiro approaches him to lift the blades "this is the shape of my soul, their name is sogyo no kotowari" the effort of releasing his blade had tired him but Jushiro chose not to show it, the cat looks surprised "there's two... They are beautiful blades... What can they do..." Jushiro smiles "I am rather proud of them.. They have served me well... Their ability is mainly defensive in that I can return most attacks of an elemental nature" the cat had never seen anything like this before and was rather amazed "I think I understand now..." Jushiro nods "this is what is called the shikai release, there is one more though, the bankai... This is achieved differently to the shikai though, to learn bankai I had to bring sogyo no kotowari to this world and then defeat them to gain bankai... It's process that takes over ten years altogether" the cat nods "zanpaktou are fascinating aren't they.." Jushiro smiles letting one of his blades go as he sealed his zanpaktou and sheathed it "they are, they are also your best friends and companions, they will never let you down as long as you stay faithful to them as well, all shinigami here treasure their zanpaktou" the cat nods "I can understand why... Such a friendship is a special thing..." Jushiro nods and starts walking inside, the cat follows looking thoughtful.

Shunsui however meet them on the way inside, the bird landed on a nearby tree and looked surprised at the cat who'd changed his form, Shunsui looks worried "you all good Juu?" Jushiro nods "I explained the zanpaktou to my guest" Shunsui sighs "you worried me a bit..." Jushiro smiles "that's not hard though" Shunsui nods "that's true.." Shunsui then eyes the cat and frowns "you two look scarily alike..." The cat smiles and Jushiro muses "well it's still easy enough to tell us apart" the cat nods before walking over and offering his arm to the bird who lands on it with a flap "so what's got you out of your shell Juu?" The cat looks thoughtful "Ukitake Taicho didn't understand when I tried to explain, so I chose to make it simple for both of us" the bird nods "fair enough, what were you two up too anyway, suddenly my counterpart got all worried?" The cat smiles "Ukitake Taicho returned the favour and explained his own abilities, I didn't understand them but he showed me instead... Zanpaktou are curious... It's similar to our own powers but different in their own way..." The bird looks thoughtful "zanpaktou... Kyouraku Taicho briefly mentioned them... What are they?" The cat smiles "I'll explain it later, are you staying like this?" The bird nods "yeah, I don't feel like changing tonight, are you staying human are you?" The cat looks thoughtful and nods "it's more convenient, we don't have our usual help here after all..." The bird nods in realisation and chuckles playfully "aww, no cuddles for you tonight juu" the cat sighs "no, it seems not.. Though I was looking forward to them.." The bird smiles "don't worry, I'm sure you will get twice as many when you get home" the cat smiles "hopefully". Jushiro then set up the visitors room before it got too dark, the bird and cat decided it's easier and likely more comforting for them to stay in the same room, Jushiro also asked one of his division members to bring by dinner when it was ready so the visitors were comfortable, Shunsui went to his division after that and Jushiro apologised before admitting he needed to retire early, both visiting captains understood completely and were content to spend the night chatting to each other instead of wasting the humans time instead, despite not being home, it wasn't overly uncomfortable so they were able to rest relatively peacefully.


	6. Kitty Uki

**so.. in my editing im tryinh to keep everything neat and proper... but if im missing things.. my deepest apologies, i am doing my best**

**BLEACH DOES NOT BELONG TO ME! only the mirrored world does :)**

* * *

><p>~The Human Seritei~<p>

The cat had much the same habits as Jushiro, they both woke up early and went to their garden for their morning tea, the cat followed this routine or was going to before smelling blood, following the scent his suspicions were answered, Jushiro was ill, no one else had seemed to notice yet and the cat heard Jushiro coughing from the door when he was about to pass it so he knocked gently and was answered by the captain "enter.." The cat was a little reluctant but entered the room, his senses were correct, jushiro was in bed on his side, he looked like he was hurting and he was bloodied, the cat kneeled by the captains side "may I assist you with anything Taicho?" Jushiro looked surprised expecting Rukia or Shunsui "good morning... I should be fine... I will however be unable to leave my bed today, he looks apologetic "forgive my rudeness.." The cat nods "that is fine.. I have similar days.. Please don't feel guilty.." Jushiro is a little relieved, though he couldn't help thinking this was still a little strange "I will ask Kuchiki-San to assist you with anything you may need today in my place" the cat nods "that is fine, I will keep my Shunsui out of trouble for you... Did you want anything..." Jushiro sighs "you don't have to do anything, your a guest..." The cat nods "true.. But I also share your experience... So if I can help, I am willing..." Jushiro frowns a little before pointing to a small beside cupboard "would you Mind finding me a needle marked morning?" The cat nods faithfully before doing as asked, Jushiro looks tiredly questioning "how did you know.." The cat looks a little apologetic "I smelt blood... I know myself well enough to know that you were likely the culprit.." Jushiro nods "of course.." The cat finds the needle and inspects it "where should I inject this?" Jushiro answered by revealing his arm "just in my arm" the cat nods and expertly treats the captain being gentle but swift "will this put you to sleep?" Jushiro nods "yes..." The cat looks thoughtful "it there anything else you need?" Jushiro shakes his head and looks grateful "thank you..." The cat smiles "no problem... I can sympathise with your pain so I'm glad I can help.. And I'm sure you would do the same for me if the situation were reversed" jushiro nods and smiles "most likely... It seems like we both make a good healer.." The medicine kicked in around then and jushiro was soon dead to the world under his medicine, the cat was of course just as caring as his counterpart and didn't leave until he'd cleaned up the mess and had water beside the bed for when the captain woke. Rukia knocked just as the cat had finished up and he met her outside, fair to say she was shocked for a second before the cat bowed politely "please, let me introduce myself, I am the ukitake from the other world, your captain will not be out of bed today as he is unwell" rukia took a second but nodded "hai.. Is he ok?" The cat nods "I have given him his medicine and he is sleeping" rukia looked stunned "ok..." The questions were obvious on her face and the cat smiles gently "I have a similar affliction in my own world and am trained in healing for my own and others sake" rukia nods understanding "I understand taicho... Were there any orders for me?" The cat nods faithfully repeating the order "he was going to ask you to make sure my companion and I were comfortable, I assure you we are" he smiles, rukia nods "hai... Then let me know if you need anything... I will report to head captain.." He nods "thank you Kuchiki-San" rukia smiles a little awkwardly and excuses herself, still shocked at her captains counterpart, the cat then continued to the garden and sat cross legged, though he did find being human wasn't nearly as comfortable as being himself.. But he didn't complain, it took a lot of energy to change and frankly he didn't feel like using that much energy.

The cat had only been sitting in the garden for half an hour before someone pulled on his tail from nowhere, he turned quickly to see a little girl with bright pink hair "good morning ukiiiii" the cat looks surprised "uh.. Hello... Yachiru-San?" She nods happily "that's me, you look different uki, are you wearing a costume?" She playfully pulled on his tail again before randomly touching his fur "your costume is soft!" The cat blushes "um... I'm not your.. Taicho.. I'm a visitor from the other world..." Yachiru looks surprised and then more eager "really! There's two ukiis" he nods nervously, he was used to a little lion cub in the other world... "Hai.." Yachiru thought this was great and hugged the confused cat and then reached up and felt his ears "your fun, do you want to play?" She giggles and then suddenly looks curious "are you like a cat?" She immediately investigated scratching behind his ears instantly making him move into her scratch with pleasure "some thing like that..." Yachiru finding that she got a reaction smiles and continues finding the reaction cute "Awwww, uki is like a kitty" he was admittedly very much like a house cat, and purrs with pleasure looking a little sad when she stopped randomly "do you like candy?" She doesn't really give too much time to answer though before producing some from a bag and putting them in the cats hand, he blushes a little "uh.. Yes... Thank you..." She smiles and sits happy beside him eating a few lollies herself "anything for ukii". The cat rather enjoyed sweets at home but it wasn't exactly healthy for him, since he was a bobcat and all, he looks at the little sweets in his hands and they looked like little fireworks, coloured blue and pink, he eats one cautiously immediately loving it "thank you yachiru San" yachiru smiles "do you want to play?" The cat looks unsure at her "what do you want to play..." She looks thoughtful then giggles "tag?" The cat frowns apolegetically "I'd never be able to catch you, you'd get bored" she pouts a little "ok ukii" she then picks some grass and playfully holds it up "then you have to catch this ok" he looks a little confused at the game but it becomes interesting in no more then a minute as his playful side took over, kinda like waving a string in front of a house cat, he will try and catch it, this worked everytime with the cat jushiro as well and it was rather amusing for yachiru. Finally with a hug and scratch yachiru moved on giving the nickname kitty uki before leaving just as abruptly as she came. The cat sighed, it seemed yachiru was exactly the same as well, he wondered where her captain was... He didn't exactly want to meet him.

It turned out the rukia had wanted to speak with 'kitty uki' before yachiru came along but seeing that yachiru was there decided to watch the whole meeting instead, she has trouble resisting a laugh and fangirling over the cuteness of the captain... She'd honestly never seen her captain do anything like that before and the unexpectedness of it was just amazing, she finally approached the captain when she had calmed down "uh.. Taicho?" The cat looks at her politely "yes Kuchiki San?" She smiles and kneels "would you like anything?" The cat smiled gently "you don't have to use such respect with me Kuchiki San, I am a visitor here, not your higher up.." She blushes a little "oh.. Well it's just you look so similar.. Besides the.. Fur.." She blushes worse "what should I call you sir?". The peace was inturupted once more by the flapping of wings as the bird landed next to the cat, rukia recognised him and found it amusing but remained respectful "good morning... Taicho..." The bird bows his hat "and to you Kuchiki San... Call me shunsui though..." He smiles, rukia blushes and nods "hai..." She looks confused at the cat whom continued politely "I am just jushiro here". Rukia nods "hai, can I get you two anything?" The cat looks unsure "do you mind if I have some tea?" The bird for once decided to behave "tea sounds alright" rukia nods "anything to eat?.." The cat looked thoughtful, since he wasn't home this makes two lots of medicine that he hadn't received, so he figured he should keep his strength up "that sounds good..". Rukia looks unsure and blushes "excuse my rudeness.. But my taicho usually has sweet rice dishes... I'm not sure if that is suitable for..." She blushes worse trying not to be rude, not knowing what to say, the bird chuckles "your so cute Kuchiki-San" the cat sighs at the bird before smiling "hai, I understand, usually I have stew type dishes... I'm hardly allowed to eat sweet" he muses "shunsui will have fruit and seeds" rukia blushes and nods "hai, I'll have it brought out for you when it's ready" she stands and heads back to the division leaving the two guests alone.

The bird looks up at the cat "why haven't you changed yet?" The cat frowns "it takes a lot of energy for me, it's easier to stay this way, especially since I'm not sure when I will be getting home... I can't take my medicine" the bird nods thoughtful "you have a good point, you should take it easy while your here" the cat looks thoughtful "I will... I'm sure this seritei can't afford two sick captains..." The bird smiles "don't worry, I'd look after you instead" the cat nods "I know.. So where did you go off too last night" the bird chuckles "well I went for a walk and had a look at their eighth division, and I met a few new people, you know hitsuguya taicho? He is just as small this side as he is on our side, he's cute too" he chuckles then looks thoughtful "one thing I did find out was this worlds me has similar powers to mine, we both use shadows as weapons... What of you?" The cat looks thoughtful "I use water but ukitake taicho... He has a slightly different ability, when he releases his zanpaktou he can return most elemental attacks" the bird nods "but can't you do that as well with certain attacks "yes.. With supernatural abilies such as energy, fire I can't, for obvious reasons, and water is the same as me so I'm really just absorbing their attack.." The bird looks up "about these zanpaktou... The humans used to used blades... I wonder if they used these... Zanpaktou..." The cat nods thinking similarly "I was planning on looking it up when I got home" the bird smiles "I should have known... Say.. Where is our host..." The cat frowns "my assumptions were correct, he is unwell today..." The bird looks thoughtful "as in coughing blood?" The cat nods, the bird sighs "mattaku.. You two are basically twins aren't you... Is he alright?" The cat looks thoughtful "indeed... I beleve so..." The bird looks at him "how did you know anyway... Or is that a stupid question?" The cat frowns "I could smell the blood... I couldn't just ignore it... Particularly knowing my own misfortune..." The bird shakes his head "you are a little creepy...", the cat sighs "I can't help it.. I am made to kill my prey you know..." He looks at the bird with slight annoyance "something you occasionally tempt in me.." The bird shivers "how scary.. Your not supposed to kill your friends..." The cat sighs "it would be too noisy to kill you... And you know it... I'd never get away with it,.. And your not defenceless either..." The bird smiles "your right..." Their conversation was inturupted by two division members delivering each guest a tray of food and drink, and the two settled down to eat. The bird picks at the fruit curiously while the cat politely used the chopsticks provided for him. The cat picked through the stew before actually eating, he tended to a little bit of a fussy eater at times as well as he had a tendency to eat slowly, the cat hated getting things stuck in his teeth, hated it with a passion, it caused him headaches, he found of he rather enjoyed this worlds cooks though, the meal was more then satisfactory. The bird looks thoughtful "you know this world isn't really so bad is it..." The cat nods "I could get used to living here... But I still think home is better...".

after hearing about jushiro's condition, since no one had told him straight away, shunsui dropped by thirteen after finding out what was happening with the tears, it turned out that the researchers were to return to thirteenth late in the afternoon, he first let rukia know before finding jushiro's guests to let them know as well. At that point the cat and bird had wandered through jushiro's rather large garden and had come to rest in a quiet part of it. The bird after all did decide to change form since the cat was starting to get bothered and didn't want to risk making himself ill. he was a mirror image of his counter part only instead of fur lining his body, brown feathers did, however unlike the cats clean appearance, the bird wing feathers created selves around his arms that hung rather low, His main difference though was his face, the lower half of his face looked darker where his white facial features turned black around his beak, his beak was the only feature that there was no sign of. When shunsui found the two guests, oddly jushiro was laying down on his side and shunsui was chatting playfully, in fact the two were so immersed in their conversation, shunsui was able to watch from a distance. The bird was bragging about something and the cat pushed him playfully, shunsui wasn't sure how long he was watching before jushiro sighed looking a little depressed murmuring about some things he was missing at home, the bird lightened and playfully scratched the cats ears making him feel better. It was odd to watch for shunsui and he realised just how close the two were, and in turn how close he and jushiro were as well as he recalled that he had sat by jushiro's side countlessly when he was I'll, just keeping him company, the memories made him feel nostalgic and grateful for the friendship he had. The wind changed at that point revealing shunsui's scent to the cat and he immediately sat up to look at shunsui "kyouraku taicho" the cat blushed a little and the bird who'd evidently not noticed the watching captain waved cheerfully, he like the cat did not wear his haori in his human form but only wore the pink haori and hat with the pants, no shirt due to his wings, he needed a sleeveless shirt to be able to wear one and he didn't have one so didn't wear one. Shunsui nods in greeting and approaches "I didn't here till a while ago that juu had fallen ill... Had I known I probably would have helped out sooner.." He sighs apologetically "I found out what's happening finally, you should be fine to go home late this afternoon... It's inconvenient I realise, but apparently they are working hard on resolving the issue" the cat nods "thank your kyouraku taicho... And it's fine, we are able to look after ourselves enough to stay out of trouble.." The bird nods in agreement, shunsui chuckles "I don't doubt it... You've probably heard it a few times today, but do you need anything?" The cat chuckles "your correct, we are fine right now though" shunsui nods "let me put it this way then, are you two bored?" The bird looks surprised "bored..." Now that he'd mentioned it, the two were indeed starting to get bored since they figured they should stay in the division, the cat looks thoughtful while the bird was honest "that's a question we haven't been asked... We are getting that way..." The cat looks unsure "it's fine though... It's not a problem". Shunsui smiles "did you want to come for a walk with me? I was heading out shortly..." The bird looks at juu before nodding "sounds good to me... And I sure juu here would appreciate it too... He thinks too much if left alone doing nothing" he smiles playfully before flinching after getting a punch to his side from the cat "mind your own buisness..." The bird pouts and holds his side "gah.. That's not fair juu..." Shunsui resists a laugh realising the cat would probably turn on him as well... "Well your welcome to accompany me... I know I have a short attention span... So I don't think it would be wrong of me to assume you both suffer the same problem in a world like this.." The cat nods "you might be right.. We will accompany you" the cat then stands to be followed by the bird, it really was shocking how much the two mirrored their counterparts.


	7. Long Time Friends

**so I may have forgot about continuing to post these chapters... I still have some written and waiting to be shown... But with my attendance... but anyway... Gomenasai gozaimasu... I hope you like this ch...**

**the story is a little odd but it's mine :3 bleach doesn't belong to me though... :(**

* * *

><p>Shunsui knew himself very well, he hated being not allowed to go anywhere, despite Being as lazy as he was, as long as the option was there he was content, he hated being caged, jushiro also hated not keeping busy, it was easy to assume that the guests would soon start getting bored so he decided to take them for a walk, not to anywhere in particular but just so they could explore a little. First thing first, shunsui let the two change and shunsui advised that they should wear their Haoris while shunsui himself decided to sacrifice his comfort and left his own Haoris safely at thirteenth division, the cat didn't understand the reasoning behind this so shunsui explained "you two are very recognisable, but not so different to us.. We will have a much more peaceful walk if you look like us, simple as that" he muses, the bird chuckles "that's clever... But are you comfortable with it?" Shunsui nods "it doesn't bother me at all" the cat looks reluctant but nods, when the two guests were dressed appropriately it was easy to overlook their inhuman features. Jushiro and shunsui were not feared at all, but they were usually left alone when they were walking unless it was important, people seemed to just feel that was the proper way of showing them respect, it was an ingenious idea as not to throw the two visitors into the deep end persay. Shunsui looked relatively normal without his haoris and it was easy to overlook him when his counterpart instead wore the famously colourful pink haori instead of him. Finally the three left thirteenth and the cat looked at shunsui "where are we going?" Shunsui smiles and shrugs "wherever you want to go, I'm not fussed, you can check out the library if you like... I assume you share juus interest in knowledge..." The cat looks surprised "really? And you are correct..." Shunsui nods "I thought I would be" he muses, the bird look curious "how long have you known ukitake taicho.." Shunsui looks thoughtful "this year will be his 2032 birthday... I've known him since he was only twenty-thirty odd years..." The cat looks shocked "my apologies.. But how old are you then?" Shunsui chuckles "2040 years this year..." The bird looks thoughtful "it's easy to see you have many years of experience... But it's crazy to think you have lived that long... Why is that?" Shunsui looks thoughtful "well souls don't really age so much... Unless you have soul power.. But even then.. It takes years to age too significantly after a certain age... I don't know why though.." The cat and bird look thoughtful and walked quietly for a few moments, the cat then looks curious "about yachiru-San... Is she the lt under zaraki taicho here?" Shunsui looks surprised at the random topic change "yeah, whys that? Did she drop in for a visit did she?" The cat chuckles "something like that... But her captain wasn't with her..." The bird looks curious "is she the same there?" The cat smiles a little wary "yeah... She mistook me for ukitake taicho... And then gave me the name kitty uki..." The bird looks surprised and laughs "I'd believe that" shunsui looks thoughtful "what's she like on your side, she often comes to steal jushiro's sweets here..." The cat smiles "well she is pretty well identical... Though she is a lion cub... She is rather sweet mind you... Just she has always been a bit tiring... But cute" shunsui nods "sounds like her... She is a scary little girl...".<p>

The three of them found it easy to talk to each other and happily occupied themselves that way while the two guests explored seritei, eventually they did make it to the library and the cat was instantly curious, the bird was quite content to watch chatting to shunsui quietly, the three spent most of the afternoon at the library before heading back to wait for the researchers again. Jushiro had woken again by then and sat outside in his garden meditating, wrapped up warm of course, he'd gotten tired of bed despite how weak coughing blood made him. Upon arrival and discovery of jushiro, shunsui dropped down beside him "good afternoon juu... Shouldn't you be elsewhere?" The cat and bird sat down nearby watching, they were a little concerned. Jushiro usually was hard to call out of meditation when he was feeling healthy, though when he was ill it was different, it was easy to bring him back since he couldn't concentrate as well. When shunsui spoke to jushiro, he stirred tiredly and looked at him "afternoon... And I can be where I'd like to to be..." Shunsui nods "I guess you have a point... How are you feeling?" Jushiro looks at the water in front of him thoughtful "fine... Tired... But fine.." Shunsui smiles "well that's good to hear... Did you hear about what was happening this afternoon here?" Jushiro looks at shunsui unsure "no... Explain?" Shunsui nods "I talked to twelfth and they were coming around to send your guests home this afternoon sometime..." Jushiro sighs "I hadn't been told..." Shunsui nudges him gently "because you should be sleeping and resting... Your exhausted..." Jushiro frowns "that gets boring..." Shunsui smiles "I know... You tell me a lot... But I still don't think that myself..." Jushiro just shakes his head "because you sleep too much... You never work.." Shunsui shrugs "and you work too much, we would make a good team" jushiro gives him a look before breaking into a heavy coughing his covering his mouth, he quickly falls dizzy and shunsui without missing a beat supports jushiro, holding him up straight. The two guests watch with quiet worry but don't interfere. Shunsui smiles "you know I really think you should go back to bed.. But I'm guessing telling you that isn't going to change anything is it..." Jushiro looks at him catching his breath "no.. I've had enough of my room for now..." Shunsui nods "fair enough" jushiro sighs looking at the pond in front of him "what have you been up too today... I hope you haven't been tainting my guests..." Shunsui chuckles "ah, how dare you, I would never... I just took them for a walk... Your counterpart found the library quite facinating" jushiro looks thoughtful and smiles a little "that doesn't surprise me very much..." Shunsui nods "I didn't think you would be... But your guests are worried about you" he muses, jushiro blushes a little "I'm fine... I'll be better in a day or so..." Shunsui chuckles "I know..." The peace was inturupted then by rukia who was surprised to see jushiro up "taicho.. Are you ok?" Jushiro nods smiling gently "of course, I am fine.. What's wrong Kuchiki-San.." She looks unsure if she should continue but does so anyway "the twelfth division members are here sir.." Jushiro nods "thank you, send them out here then" rukia nods looking worried before flash stepping back to the office, in ten minutes, the researchers had swiftly started setting up once more.

The actions of the researchers already started to stress jushiro simply by being there so shunsui decided then to put jushiro in bed, he would never hear the end of it when he woke but it was better then his conditioning worsening "juu..." Jushiro looks at shun before immediately falling unconscious under the affects of kido, shunsui caught him before he landed on the ground, the cat and bird looked shocked "what happened?" Shunsui gently held jushiro against him before picking him up lightly "it's called kido... I knocked him unconcious.." Jushiro was rather light and flinched even in his kido induced state despite shunsui being careful, it betrayed how unwell he actually was, the cat looked nervous "how? You did nothing?" Shunsui looks at the cat "it's called hakufaku... It's an ability to knock someone unconcious by locking eyesight... Juu hates it..." The cat bites his lip "that's.. Scary..." Shunsui nods and excuse himself to put jushiro back into bed gently before returning and sitting across from the two guests "kido if used correctly can be..." The bird looks unsure "does this... Hakufaku... Hurt?" Shunsui shakes his head, it's painless but it gives you a bit of a headache when you wake up.." The cat looks at shunsui "he flinched though... I saw it.." Shunsui nods "jushiro is in a fair bit of pain right now... He just doesn't show it unless he is sleeping... He is strong that way.." The cat looks a little down "what is wrong with ukitake taicho..." Shunsui sighs depressed then "the cause is unknown... He has been victims to his illness since I met him... But the illness itself causes him internal bleeding... His lungs in particular suffer and he can't breathe right... We can soothe the pain... And in a sense delay the illness... But we can't cure it..." The cat looks shocked and then looks at the ground "I feel bad for him..." The bird looks at shunsui thoughtfully "have you always looked after him?" Shunsui nods "ever since I met him..." The cat looks at shunsui "your a good friend..." Shunsui smiles "I try to be.. Though he is going to hate me when he wakes up..." The bird chuckles "he has fair reason...". A whurr shoulda in the background once more and the mirror opens up once more, shunsui looks up "ah... Seems you two can go home now.." The cat looks over "so it seems..." The bird smiles at shunsui "well then I should thank you for the interesting trip, it was quite curious to see your world" the cat nods in agreement "indeed, thank you for your hospitality" shunsui nods "no problem, I didn't really do anything, juu was the one who looked after you" the cat smiles "then pass on our thanks, perhaps you might come see us next time.." The bird and cat stand nodding respectfully before after getting the green light, walks through the mirror successfully getting home, much to both of the twos relief. Shunsui oversaw the rest of the experiment and then reported it's success instead of jushiro, after he saw the researchers off he decided to go and sit in jushiro's room and lay on the floor until he woke, jushiro would want to know what happened so he intended on telling him.


	8. Chapter 8

Mirrored worlds 8

Jushiro stirred with a groan before rolling weakly to his side before coughing heavily, bringing up more blood, by this point in the evening, his day had caused him to lose a lot of blood, coughing itself made his throat and chest sore, the blood burned as he coughed it up so he was now too weak and in too much pain to move, to tired to notice that shunsui was right beside him until he sat up looking at jushiro with concern "you ok?" Jushiro couldn't remember how he got back to his room but it took him a mere minute to realise he now had a headache and realise the cause of such headache, shunsui had put him to sleep, jushiro looks at shunsui with weak agitation "your a bastard..." Shunsui looks surprised before nodding "I'll give you that one... You ok though?" Jushiro sighs weakly "yes..." Shunsui looks him over and picks up some water before putting it beside jushiro "here, drink this" jushiro looks at the bottle and drinks a little "why are you still here?.." Shunsui frowns "is there something wrong with making sure your alright?" He sighs "I do have another reason but you should still be grateful..." Jushiro looks at shunsui tiredly "you knocked me unconcious... I have every reason to be pissed at you.. But what do you want..." Shunsui pouts "so mean... I'm not that bad..." he then frowns "I thought you might be interested to know I took care of your guests and the report... It's all finished up for you.." Jushiro looks a little surprised then nods "thank you.." Shunsui smiles "no problem... I'd hate to see you stressing over the matter in this condition.." Jushiro is quiet for a moment before looking a little grateful "I appreciate the thought.." Shunsui nods "anyway.. They wanted to thank you, I said I'd tell you for them.." Jushiro nods quietly, shunsui sighs "do you need to go to fourth... You really do look like your gonna die..." Jushiro doesn't respond for a few minutes and finally shakes his head "I'll be ok... I'm just tired..." Shunsui's doesn't look convinced but is afraid to touch him in case he causes more damage "alright... If you say so... I will call unohana though...", jushiro no longer responds falling into a light pained sleep.

~meanwhile in the otherworld~

the effort from the trip had rather drained jushiro and despite his usual work ready attitude, he just wanted lots of cuddles and sleep, shunsui decided to go home as well as nana-chan was Rather worried about him. Rukia for ease had transformed into her human form and was in the captains office writing forms, rather stressed about her captains absence, as soon as she sensed his return she ran to meet him eagerly "taicho" jushiro was still human and smiles "Kuchiki San... I missed you.." Rukia blushes a little "your too kind... How was your trip?" Jushiro nods with a sigh "it was interesting.. But worrying as well..." Jushiro kneels to transform back to his more comfortable form and he steps out of his borrowed uniform before sitting tiredly, rukia looks a little worried "are you ok..." He nods and frowns "it was just a tiring trip..." Rukia picks up the uniform and folds it neatly "I hope you weren't intending on working that way.." Jushiro shakes his head "not today.." Rukia looks surprised and smiles "that's good then, because I wasn't going to allow you too.." Rukia usually was quite a beautiful eagle, but she was an equally beautiful human, instead of fur, her dies back and shoulders were covered with beautiful feathers, not one of them crooked, she had short black hair and purple eyes, she unlike her human counterpart, only wore a short shirt that covered her chest area, feathers under clothes were rather uncomfortable and often caused pain when they pulled feathers out, this was a general rule for most to all birds, even the dignified Kuchiki taicho only wore a scarf in his human form, shirtless. Rukia despite her small stature was rather strong, her arms were covered in the same gracefully feathers and looked just as perfect as her wings, rukia put the borrowed uniform over her shoulder before gently but securely picking up her captain, jushiro was scared of heights when he was picked up, however he didn't have a problem with them top when he was on his own feet, it was a little strange admittedly. He cuddled into her embrace "what are you doing Kuchiki San...", rukia smiles and carried her captain to his room "taking you to your quarters so you can rest..." She set him on his feet on his bed "I will go get you something to eat ok, so stay right there" she smiles playfully before leaving , her tail gently dragged on the ground behind her. Jushiro sighs but admittedly appreciated the thought and settles the curling up comfortably on his bed letting his thoughts wander, he was still worried about his counterpart... The human had looked like he was on his deathbed.

Rukia returned in a while with a tray of stew and she had managed to get him some sweets too with some tea, she also had a small bowl of stew herself as her captain didn't like eating alone with company, jushiro looks up at her "so how was the division while I was gone..." He then starts eating neatly, rukia used chopsticks and looks thoughtful "I got a lot of worry from thirteenth about your absence... But that was about it.. I finished most of the paperwork..." Jushiro nods thoughtfully and rukia continues "what was it like over there..." Jushiro swallows his mouthful thoughtfully "it's essentially exactly the same.. Only everyone is human... Even you look the same as Kuchiki San from over there..." Rukia smiles "really? So I'm guessing you met your counterpart then?" Jushiro nods with a sigh "he was ill..." Rukia looks surprised "really... Is it the same thing?" Jushiro shakes his head "it's a similar set of symptoms... But the causes are entirely different... His body is dying..." He looks bothered at the thought and a little depressed and eats once more, rukia looks shocked before looking depressed at the thought too "how did you know...", jushiro sighed "I smelt it... The blood smelled poisoned... I can't explain it another way..." Rukia picks at her meal then sighs "he looks like you doesn't he..." Jushiro nods "if I were human he would be my twin.." Rukia looks a little upset at the thought "I can't image it... I don't want to imagine it... It's too sad..." Jushiro nods "it's a strange sensation..." The two were quiet and finished their meals then and rukia changes the subject "so did you learn anything?" Jushiro chiles "quite a lot actually... Kyouraku taicho... Or I should say his counterpart knew me very well..." Rukia looks confused "what's that?" Jushiro chuckles "well he correctly guessed when both shun and I were getting bored and then allowed us to go to the library... He didn't ask us anything.. He just knew exactly how I thought... It was strange... Especially since he looked the same as shun... I felt like I'd known him for years..." Rukia looks thoughtful "how well did he know your counterpart?" Jushiro looks thoughtful "I believe he said about 2000 years... But even so... He must know my counterpart very well to be to so knowledgable about myself..." Rukia nods "that's pretty amazing..." Jushiro nods and starts cleaning himself "I did actually learn about one thing that was interesting... I was going to ask you about it actually since you were friends with the last shinigami here.." Rukia looks at her captain curiously "what's that?" Jushiro smiles "nothing too serious... I'd just wondered if you'd ever heard the term zanpaktou..." Rukia looks thoughtful "zanpaktou... No... But I always used to watch them practicing with their tamashi no hahen" jushiro looks at her a little confused "what were they?" Rukia looks thoughtful "I always thought they were silly... Apparently it means soul shard... Or something like that... But my friend always used to name them..." Jushiro looks surprised "really?" Rukia nodded "as I said, I didn't really understand.. It's just a human thing though..." Jushiro looks thoughtful "I want to research this... Soul shard... It sounds like a zanpaktou..." Rukia looks confused "what's a zanpaktou..." Jushiro smiles "it's basically what you just described.. But more meaningful..." Jushiro suddenly looks tense looking around, he heard something suspicious, rukia looks at him then around sure "taicho?" Jushiro had better hearing then rukia but slightly worse sight, because she was an eagle of course "I smell something... It's new... And I'm not sure I like it..." Jushiro gets up and goes to the door looking around suspiously, one caught another quiet sound but again there was nothing, rukia stands and goes outside standing in the walkway "I'll have a look..." The ground starts frosting where she stood barefoot.

She paces to the end of the walkway where jushiro had been intently staring at, she suddenly saw a flash of blue fabric dissappear further around the corner and immediately took off running, however the blue vanished as soon as she had turned the corner, she stood there in silence and listened but there was nothing, after a minute she walked back to jushiro who still stood listening "taicho... I saw something... But..." Jushiro nods "it's fine... But I believe we are not alone..." Rukia nods. The sound of a roof tile cracking broke the quiet and jushiro nods to rukia motioning for her to go toward the other end of the hall while he went the opposite direction, the roof was silent again though, jushiro was silent and as the end of his room was a climbing vine on the wall which he quietly climbed onto the roof, he gave rukia a nod and she jumped up onto the other side of the roof, rukia was a lot noisier then jushiro and their intruder looked toward her direction giving jushiro the chance to pounce heavily on the person dressed in blue sitting on their roof, the intruder didn't have a chance to react and move after seeing jushiro. Rukia rushed over the apprehended suspect and her captain however they were shocked by just who the culprit was... Or what he was. The culprit was a small child with huge green eyes and he looked afraid, stuck under jushiro's heavy paws, he odly wore blue robes that looked something out of a temple, a priest might wear something similar, his hair was perfectly white topped with a priestly blue hat. Rukia looks stunned "taicho..." The little boy resembled the captain a little, jushiro wasn't sure what to go.. He felt bad, he didn't want to bear his teeth at the child, yet, he obviously didn't belong here "who are you...". The child suddenly teared up and cried out loudly seemingly bringing his capture to the attention to his acomplice, who out of nowhere landed on jushiro's back holding what looked like a short stick with a curved end, the acomplice was dressed the same, proving to to be the first child's twin, however he looked slightly braver and he was holding his stick against jushiro side, only jushiro could tell that the stick was indeed a weapon as he felt the blade against his side, he suddenly felt something he hadn't felt in a while... Fear. Rukia looks shocked and goes to attack "taicho!" Jushiro was frozen where he was but looks at rukia "stop, They are dangerous!"rukia does as ordered though not understanding until she realised jushiro's side had started to bleed where the small twin still threatened to kill the captain. Jushiro sighs before looking at the twin under is paw "who are you..." When the twin doesn't answer jushiro looks annoyed "I'm asking you a question...". The twin on his back looks at the captain "you met us already..." Jushiro looks to the side "I've never met you... What are you talking about.." The twin on the ground looks at the captain "you did so... You came to our dad's world.." The captain looks shocked "are you from that world?" The twin on the ground nods "you met us.." Jushiro was starting to get irritated "who are you... What are you doing here.." Rukia watched unable to do anything or her captain would be attacked, the twins in sync suddenly smile "we are sogyo no kotowari..." Jushiro thinks for a second before looking shocked once more, remembering where he'd heard that name.

The human looks at jushiro "you should stay there, it's safer for you.." The human then walked to the middle of the courtyard and said a chant before saying the name... Sogyo no kotowari, a heavy feeling suddenly fell on his shoulders and there was a huge gust of wind, the human captain stood at the centre of it and then the wind stopped just as suddenly as it came, the heavy feeling was still there though, the human walked over holding an absolutely amazing pair of blades, they were unlike anything he ever seen. The captain smiles gently "this is sogyo no kotowari... My zanpaktou, the shape of my soul". Jushiro looked at the child under his paw "that's impossible... That name belonged to blades..." The twins frown before the one on the captains back jumped off and the one under jushiro's paw raises his hands, a ball of light appeared there before suddenly exploding sending jushiro flying, he landed on his feet and saved himself from sliding off the roof but he couldn't process what just happened, he looked around for the kids and they walked out unharmed from the smoke holding hands "it's not impossible... Your mean..." Both the twins suddenly had a short stick each and they hold it forward, the stick then glowed before the sticks turned into full sized blades connected between the twins via a rope with tags on it, the very same that the human captain had possessed, the twins look annoyed "this is us, but it's not our only form!" Jushiro looks stunned and didn't understand at all "why are you here...", rukia watched with shock standing on the edge of the roof. The blades change back to the sticks they were holding and the twins look at jushiro "we wanted to play:..." Jushiro looks at the twins not comprehending the words "you wanted to play..." They nod "you seem fun to play with.." Jushiro suddenly felt frustrated "what the hell... What kind of play were you intending... You've drawn blood..." Jushiro's tail flicks with annoyance, the twins frown "your the one that attacked us..." Jushiro sighs struggling not to be too annoyed though feeling rather pissed off "did you expect anything less? Should you even be here?" The twins looks annoyed "we can go wherever we like... We are bored.." Jushiro growls under his breath, he still didn't exactly understand what the children were... "Well you came to the wrong place in the wrong manner.." Rukia watched unsure whAt she should do and jushiro sits "you should go home to your dad..."... Wherever he is... He mutters under his breath, the twins pout annoyed "dad is in bed sick.. We can't play with him..." Jushiro looks at then "who is your dad..." They sigh exasperated "jushiro ukitake... We are his zanpaktou spirit... You aren't like dad at all.." Jushiro looks at them disbelieving remembering something about them being able to come to the real world.. But he didn't understand at the time, surely it was impossible that they could come to another world... But here they were... And in quite a bit of trouble too.. Jushiro was starting to get a headache and gives understanding " just whatever... I'm too tired for this..." Rukia had come to take her place beside jushiro and looks worried "are you ok... That blast looked painful.." Jushiro had indeed felt the blast and his chest was rather sore now but he was mostly unharmed "I'm fine... But this is about as much as I feel like putting up with today..." He look at the twins "I'm not in the mood for this today.. You should go home, I'm sure your dad is worried about you" jushiro then turns and finds the vines to climb down off his roof, rukia looks at the twins before jumping down herself and following her captain, the twins look irritated and vanish.


	9. Chapter 9

Mirrored worlds 9

Jushiro had left his tea and sweets in his room, in his mood he care for neither and curled up on his bed irritated, rukia looked a little worried "taicho... Would you please let me take care of your wound.." Jushiro has forgotten about it and remembering it he flinches a little but nods and rolls over so she can "as you wish.." Rukia nods and settles beside him after taking out a first aid kit, jushiro growls a little when she disinfects it but mostly behaves letting her bandage his side up, rukia then looks at him gently "you should get some rest... You haven't taken your medicine for a day now.. Stress is bad for you.." Admittedly he knew she was right, but he was moody and would probably stay that way, rukia sighs "taicho... I'm gonna give you your needle ok?" He nods with a sigh and rukia with permission gives him his medicine before gently pulling the captain into her lap and cuddles him "cheer up.. Your scary like this taicho..." She starts scratching his ears and he relaxes a little before apologising quietly "sorry... I think perhaps I do need some rest..." Rukia smiles gently "I'm sure you will feel better in the morning" jushiro shifts to sit more comfortably in rukia's lap and sighs "yeah... Perhaps...". Unlike in the other world, jushiro was closer to different people in this world due to his form, being a cat allowed him to open up a little more to those willing to put time into their friendship with him, namely give him cuddles..., rukia respected him greatly but also built a strong friendship with the captain offering him all the cuddles he could want in between work, jushiro in turn offered her the same support with her own personal matters, particularly with the death of of her human friends, he had protected her fiercely in the past, just like he did with all of his division. Shunsui was still his best friend, and by far the most annoying as well.. But in this world, it was easy to make friends, more so then you would in the otherworld. Jushiro's medicine soon made him sleepy and he fell asleep peacefully in rukia's lap, once she had made sure he was resting properly she cleaned up quietly and left the captain for the night, she hoped his lack of medicine wouldn't make him sick over the next few days.

Despite rukia's belief that the twins had left, they didn't, in fact they found they had gotten stuck in the world, for some reason he couldn't contact jushiro, though truthfully they didn't come here by choice, they didn't even really know how they got here, but they found themselves in the otherworld anyway, they assumed it was because of the other jushiro's reiatsu, they could only guess at some point in time they had mistaken their dad's reiatsu, or an even wilder thought, this worlds jushiro had somehow called them, they didn't remember anything. The jushiro here wasn't the same as their dad, he was younger, more rash and less experienced, he wasn't as strong and hadn't even reached his full capabilities, yet his reiatsu made the two twins feel that slight bit more comfortable away from home. They couldn't help but feel hurt by jushiro's reaction but they could understand it too, eventually though as it got dark, they got more lonely and they wanted to be home.. Even if it did hurt... At some point in the night, the twins actually healed jushiro's wounds before they decided to curl up together in jushiro's garden, they had already realised that in this world, they weren't real great at sensing spiritual pressure, so they were at least safe. Jushiro found them there the next morning, he woke feeling unexplainably good, he didn't hurt anymore and his wound wasn't there, he wasn't sure how to explain this phenomenon, it was when he had settled in front of his garden pond when he smelled their scent again, he wasn't sure what to think of this, whether to prepare to be bothered or go looking for them.. He had wondered why the two kids were here after all, but if they were going to attack him again.. After arguing with himself for a few minutes he sighs and gets up to track them, he was a little surprised to find them sleeping out in the open in his garden.. Though even if they were asleep... Their faces betrayed them, they'd been upset, jushiro sits and frowns unsure what to do, though he finally decided to wake them seeing as it was dangerous to sleep in a place like this. He nudges the twins with his paw and they stirred reluctantly before seemingly remembering where they were and immediately drawing their fan, jushiro barely dodged the strike with a little bit of heart attack on the side as well, the twins froze then staring at the cat with shock, jushiro resisted the feelings of annoyance wondering if they were this dangerous in the other world "do you attack everyone that wakes you.. Or do you just dislike me in particular..." The twins reluctantly withdraw their fan "we tend to attack everyone..." Jushiro sighs "you two are zanpaktou right... Why are you here.." The twins look a little depressed before playing it off "we are allowed to go wherever we want.." Jushiro looks at them tiredly "and what about your dad? It's the other jushiro right? Won't he be worried... Isn't he sick?" The twins can't help but look worried and don't manage to hide those feelings completely "dad will be fine..." Jushiro looks unconvinced but decides not to argue the point "I guess you two would know.." They nod, jushiro looks toward the barracks "if you need sleep you should sleep inside... There are dangerous people out here.." The twins look a little surprised by the change of attitude, though by rights, their dad can be just as moody as this jushiro "we can't sleep anymore.. It's fine.." Jushiro frowns, the two twins resembled the sick human he seen for a short period of time, stubborn but strong. Jushiro wasn't really sure what to do with situation, but he knew he had to do something "fine... You two hungry?" Normally their souls were nourished by simply being with their dad but he wasn't here nor could they reach him, they would at some point need food.. Sogyo shook their heads though "we are ok..." Jushiro stands "well I assume you will find me at some point... You seem inhumanly good at that... Find me when you need anything.." He nods and turns to walk back to the division, the twins didn't follow.

Jushiro was bothered by the twins for most of the day, they obviously weren't alright but he didn't know how to help them, he barely knew what a zanpaktou was, he couldn't focus on work at all really promoting rukia to send him for a break so he could rest, he decided to try and relax by lying on his side in the sun on the roof, it didn't really work but it did feel good and that was where shunsui found him "ne... Strange place for juu to be sleeping..." Jushiro looks up at the bird with a frown "as if I'd stoop to your level..." Shunsui dramatically puts a wing on his heart "so cold... I think I'll bleed out with that wound.." Jushiro rolls his eyes "drama queen.." Shunsui chuckles "what's got you thinking so hard.." Jushiro sighs and rolls onto his back to look up to the bird "someone from the otherworld seemed to follow me through..." Shunsui sits looking confused "what? How?" Jushiro's frowns "I don't know... But I believe they belong to captain ukitake... They are his zanpaktou spirits.." Jushiro looks irritated "I don't even understand completely what a zanpaktou is let alone how to help one for even deal with one..." Shunsui looks surprised at jushiro's attitude "you know your usually pretty calm..." Jushiro grumbled "they attacked me last night..." Shunsui frowns "why? And why didn't you attack back?" Jushiro pouts grumpily "I couldn't..." Shunsui looks confused "why?" Jushiro's was quiet for a moment... "They were kids... I couldn't.. And if I did i wouldn't be able to sleep..." Shunsui looks thoughtful "kid zanpaktou... I thought zanpaktou were supposed to be powerful spirits..." Jushiro sighs "they could have killed me last night.. They actually drew blood..." Shunsui looks surprised "oh... How? How could they sneak up on you? You have some of the best senses around..." Jushiro honestly hadn't thought about that bit "I don't know... But they are rather quick... I didn't even know there were two of them till I'd captured one of them and the other was on my back stabbing me..." Shunsui looks thoughtful "shinigami seems like scary beings..." Jushiro nods. "Shinigami aren't scary..." Shunsui looks at jushiro and jushiro looks back before realising the twins had appeared a bit in front of the two, shunsui jumps and jushiro sits up fur ruffled, the twins appearances rather shocked the captains, jushiro sighs "are you always this surprising?" The twins look thoughtful "yeah... But dad usually knows we are here by our reiatsu..." Shunsui frowns "he must have some amazing senses then..." The twins without hesitation go on "jushiro ukitake is one of the strongest people in our world... He could kill you without drawing his sword..." Shunsui gulps "you two are scary little kids..." Jushiro clears his throat "that aside... Is there anything I can do for you.." The twins look shy before fainting in sync, jushiro looks shocked and walks over cautiously considering the mornings wake up resulted in his near death. The twins were still holding hands even though they were uncooked, jushiro gently nudged them first just in case before sighing and wondering why this was happening around him, shunsui walks over looking unsure "I can see your problem.." Jushiro just frowns "I should put them to bed..." Shunsui nods "are you changing?" Jushiro nods "I have no choice... I could carry them like this if they were awake.. But they are not..." He walks over to the edge of the building "I'll be back.. I can't change up here.. " shunsui nods "hai.. I'm not moving..". Jushiro returned within minutes and climbed back onto the roof after he'd changed and put some pants on, jushiro kneels by the children with a sigh "this is an inconvenient place to collapse..." Shunsui nods "but I guess it can't be helped" jushiro wasn't as strong as his counterpart but he was surprised at how little the twins weighed, he didn't expect to be able to carry them both, but he found that he was in fact able to, it would save leaving one alone at least and with a little less effort then expected he had carried them to to his room, as soon as jushiro had held them in human form, they held him tightly, even in sleep, jushiro in fact was not able to put them down as they would not let him go.. "What was the word they used.. Reiatsu.. Maybe you have a similar reiatsu to their dad.." Shunsui looks thoughtful "you might have to stay with them.." Jushiro had set them in his lap and nods maybe.. Maybe they can't get home..." Shunsui nods "perhaps.. The tear is closed, maybe that's the cause.." Jushiro sighs "I guess I'll just stay with them... Take my communicator and try messaging the other side.. Mayuri doesn't need to know about this just yet.." Shunsui nods and takes the offered phone "alright, call me if you need anything then..." Jushiro nods before laying down with the two children, he didn't hate the children, he just didn't understand them, and that what irritated him most.

Jushiro ended falling asleep as well, the children themselves offered a strange sense of peace while they were so close, the ukitake from the otherworld had said something about it " I would be very lonely without my blade beside me..." Jushiro had wondered if this was what he meant by it back then, because he felt he could understand a little, it was the peace lulled him into sleep. Shunsui meanwhile had tried to contact the other world, it took a little but finally he was successful in sending a message to the other side, despite sending it to ukitake taicho, when shunsui started the call, he was answered by kyouraku taicho "kyouraku taicho speaking.. What may I help you with" you could hear the smile in his voice, shunsui chuckles "as excited as ever I see..." The human sounds a little surprised to be hearing himself "ah, what a pleasant surprise.. Long time no see... Or not" he muses, shunsui smiles "maybe it's not as pleasant as you hope... I have some news..." The human sounds curious "hmm... That sounds scary.. " shunsui nods "we've actually got an unexpected guest here.. And we don't know for sure.. But they don't seem to be able to leave..." The human sounds thoughtful "this is starting to sound problematic... Who are your guests.." Shunsui sighs "sogyo no kotowari they are calling themselves, two little kids dressed in blue..." The phone was quiet for a moment and then the human returned somewhat shocked "oh dear... That explains a lot... You say they can't get back... Why.." Shunsui frowns "we don't know... They are stubborn and aren't saying much but right now juu is with the,.. In fact they weren't letting go.." The human sighs "I would expect as much... I will see what I can arrange.. If juu realises they are gone... It will be bad... I'll leave it at that..." Shunsui nods "give me a call if you arrange something, I'll do what I can at this end.." The human nods "hai... I'll talk soon I guess". Shunsui flicks the phone shut and looks at the sky "I wonder if this is common over there..."


	10. Chapter 10

Mirrored worlds 10

~the human seritei~

snapping his soul communicator shut, shunsui sighs and looks at jushiro, he was sitting beside jushiro once more while he slept, he'd been noticeablysleepijng worse as the day went on, at first shunsui had assumed it was because of his illness, but sogyo was in fact absent from his usual home, their blade sat empty and jushiro was in fact growing more upset in sleep. Shunsui rests his palm over jushiro's forehead and murmured a bakudo that would keep jushiro asleep until he broke the bakudo, any stress in his condition would ultimately make everything worse and he was already on his death bed. Shunsui stands with a sigh and leaves the room giving jushiro one last worried glance before flash stepping to twelfth division, it took a good hour before he finally got something helpful out of mayuri, a hand held device which could detect if there were spiritual anomalies anywhere near him, he also had a device which if he put his reiatsu into could open a tear, using these two devices, it took him another short while but he finally entered the right world, after discovering another world of course, but he ignored it for now.

~the animal seritei~

Using what he'd been told about the other world, he immediately recognises the overgrown seritei that was the main difference between the worlds, after jumping onto a rooftop he determined he was around sixth division which allowed him to find himself some directions and flash step towards the thirteenth division. He had hidden his presence so he was spiritually invisible, and if anyone saw him, he was flash stepping so fast that he immediately broke eyeline, he'd been told none could flash step in this world, nor had they learned to be spiritually aware, it was obvious to shunsui that this was the case, he recognised many spiritual pressures yet they were not nearly as high as he was used to, he could probably crush everyone in this world by simply flaring his reiatsu, of course he wouldn't but the possibility was there. Shunsui came to a stop outside of jushiro's office which remarkably looked very similar in this world, the gardens were controlled here, not that he expected any less, but it was still different to the rest of seritei. Unfortunately rukia was sitting on the roof thinking the moment shunsui arrived, she instantly recognised who it was by the blamboyant pick haori "t-taicho..." It didn't take her more then a moment to realise that this captain was not her captain though, shunsui looked up and smiles, a little surprised seeing the majestic looking eagle instead of rukia, but he immediately recognised her "I'm afraid I'm not the captain in your mind..." Rukia looks instantly nervous "who are you..." Shunsui tips his hat politely "shunsui kyouraku... From the world of the humans..." Rukia looks shocked "what... How did you get here... What are you doing here..." With shock she realised he also wore the captains haori, shunsui frowns "well it seems someone important from our world followed your taicho back here..." He smiles "don't worry, I'm not here to cause trouble... Though.. I did want to say... You look rather majestic up there Kuchiki-San..." Rukia turns her head away shyly "t-thank you... Sir..." He chuckles "ah, I'm not so important, don't be so stiff Kuchiki San." She continues to looks shy "so where do you need to go..." Shunsui looks thoughtful "I need to visit your taicho, he is looking after my guest for me.." She looks unsure "I wasn't aware he had a guest... he is in his quarters... I will show you the way.." He nods "after you my lady" he muses, rukia was a lot weirded out by the random appearance, but jushiro had mentioned that he had met the other worlds shunsui, so she figured it would be ok to show him the way, and so she did, shunsui kept up with her easily even with her flying, it took another ten minutes to get to the captains quarters which of course shunsui recognised, he seen the same building for more then a thousand years. Rukia lands gracefully on the roof and shunsui tips his hat "much appreciated my lady... Though I must apologise... I'm going to have to wake your captain..." Rukia wasn't even aware jushiro was sleeping and looked shocked "h-hai..." Shunsui nods before knocking quietly and entering the room, rukia was anxious, she could tell this other shunsui was dangerous but she also knew she had no hope of scratching him if it came down to a fight so she hoped her captain didn't mind.

It was a familiar sight when shunsui walked into the room, jushiro was indeed asleep, shunsui could tell by the peaceful reiatsu even before seeing it. Jushiro was in his human form, his cat ears and tail would flick occasionally as he dreamed and he had an adorable little smile as he cuddled the two twins in his sleep, sogyo was relatively peaceful but it was obvious that they were not where they belonged. Sogyo's reaitsu was higher then jushiro's, not so high that it would affect him but still high enough it hinted where they truly belonged. Shunsui sighs before kneeling beside the sleeping jushiro and gently disturbs jushiro, he stirs with a yawn and shunsui content sits and waits until jushiro notices him, it doesn't take long and jushiro mistakes him for the bird "shun... You know it's creepy you sitting there like that?" Shunsui lifted his hat "really... My juu doesn't mind it.." Jushiro looks shocked realising it wasn't the bird "k-kyouraku..." Shunsui nods taking of his hat and sets it on the ground beside him before waving a hand cheerfully "hai, that's me..." Jushiro gently tries to free hiself from the twins once more to be met by the same result as before, they wouldn't let go and jushiro sighs, shunsui smiles "it's pointless trying when they are like this... Don't worry" jushiro looks at shunsui ".. Is that why your here..." Shunsui nods "yeah... See juu is in a bad shape right now... And normally it wouldn't be such a rush... But if he wakes up now to find his children gone... He will shatter..." Jushiro looks a little shocked "... These two are that important..." Shunsui nods "important as breathing..." Jushiro frowns not understanding "why... " shunsui looks thoughtful "imagine it this way... A long time ago you made a friend, that friend followed you everywhere and grew with you, after so many years.. What do you think if that someone who'd always been there were to simply vanish..." Jushiro looks unsure "I guess I'd be pretty upset..." Shunsui nods "for juu... Those two are that one person... Normally he would worry but he could probably handle it but now... It would be disastrous... Do you understand.." Jushiro nods "I guess I do..." Shunsui smiles "but that is why I'm here... To save the day..." He looks at the twins "I can free you... But you seem to have gotten used to having them beside you.." Jushiro blushes a little "h-hai..." Shunsui nods "did you realise you have the potential to find your own zanpaktou..." Jushiro looks surprised then unsure "what do you mean..." Shunsui sighs "I'm saying that inside you.. You have a lot of untouched potential... In particular... Your zanpaktou spirit is waiting for you... But that's none of my business" shunsui yawns and stretches "I suppose I'll free you now..".

Jushiro looked confused and didn't understand but nods, shunsui stands and goes to the twins dropping down to his knees and puts his hands gently on their foreheads for a moment, it's only a moment later before they stir reluctantly letting jushiro go, shunsui then easily picks them up gently smiling playfully "now you two... You really are a worry.." The twins look confused for a second before cuddling gratefully to shunsui instantly getting upset "shun..." Shunsui sighs playfully "not the the water works.. I'm not that scary... Or will I have to force it out of you" he threatens with a chuckle, the twins blush a little and rub their eyes smiling a little "like we would.. Baka... You drink too much.." Shunsui fakes hurt "ah.. So cold.. So mean.." He smiles and starts to tickle them anyway "I'll make you regret that.." The twins instantly tried to escape but fails laughing, jushiro sat up watching with shock, after all that he'd been through with them, they were just playing around like that... Shunsui finally freed the twins and the scrambled away to catch their breath "you the mean one.." They then tackle shunsui which of ou ours shunsui can avoid but he lets them "gah.. You got me..." He dramaticly pretends to die "good bye cruel world.." The twin look a little confused and shunsui actaully does hold his breath until the twins start getting worried "hey... Hello... Shun..." This was when he scared them "zoo!" And the gullible twins screamed a little "ahhh... Your horrible shun!" Shunsui chuckles "I already knew that.. Now. Want to tell me why your so far from home?" The twins smile and then look unsure "we.. We don't know... But we woke up here... And we couldn't go home... Or talk to dad..." Shunsui looks thoughtful "that sounds scary..." The twins nod starting to get upset, shunsui pokes them playfully "aww come one, don't start that... I'm taking you home now, promise.." He smiles, the twins look surprised and then smile "hai!" Shunsui nods "good boys.. Now I think you should thank captain ukitake for looking after you... I'll bet you two caused him quite a bit of grief...". Jushiro internally groans.. More then a little bit... The twins look a little guilty "we attacked him... But we were scared... We are sorry.." Shunsui raises an eyebrow "why would you two be scared..." They look a little unsure "one of us was caught and we couldn't escape..." Shunsui frowns "did you hurt him?" The twins look thoughtful "we cut him and blew him up..." Shunsui sighs "mattaku... Where are you manners?" The twins look guilty "we did heal him..." Jushiro looks surprised "you did?" Shunsui looks over "you didn't realise?" Jushiro looks thoughtful "well... I did notice but I didn't know why..." Sogyo looks at jushiro "we are sorry ukitake taicho..." Jushiro sighs and nods "it's fine... But next time you can just talk to me ok... I really don't mind just talking... Talking is good.." Shunsui smiles "right.. Now you two little fish need to get off me so we can go home..." The twins nod and stand up beside him and pull him up before going to pick up shuns hat, putting it in his hands, shunsui chuckles "thank you" he then looks at jushiro "sorry about all this... These two can be a handful so thanks for looking after them" jushiro nods smiling "no problem... Warning might be useful next time though" he chuckles, shunsui laughs "warning... Even their dad doesn't get that" jushiro sighs surprised "oh dear..." Shunsui stands up and the twins takes his hands happily, the twins then seemingly decide they've forgotten something and go over and hug jushiro "thank you ukitake taicho..." Jushiro blushes a little and hugs them back "like I said... No problem..." They smile and return to shunsui's side and shunsui nods before letting himself out "take care ukitake taicho".

The twins look up at shunsui "is dad ok..." Shunsui nods "yeah... Though he doesn't know your gone yet... But it can be out secret ok" he smiles, sogyo nods "hai..." They look towards the serieitei "with the right hand leading them... This gotei could be equals to us... Ukitake taicho had somewhat decent skills even with lack of knowledge..." Shunsui nods "right now they are weak, but yes.. I do agree, it's obvious that they have huge potential" the twins frown "we are not sure if we would be mirrored as well... But it does seem like a possibility..." Shunsui looks thoughtful "your right... I wonder if it would be dangerous teaching them though.." He muses. The twins let go of shunsui's hand before jumping up on his shoulder and then onto the roof, shunsui looks surprised and follows "where are you two going". Sogyo sensed the bird on the roof and jumped up landing a few steps away, shunsui looks surprised "ah, I wondered if I was going to meet you.." The bird not expecting the children jumps and then looks at his counterpart "kyouraku...", the bird looks at the phone "did I miss something?" Shunsui smiles "nah, I didn't warn you I was coming..." The bird sighs "I see...". Shunsui looks playful "I'm all about surprises..." The bird sits up and adjusts his hat "it's not just you it seems... Those two kids there are rather scary too.." Shunsui looks at the twins before looking thoughtful "that's true... They are best friends with my katen so it's to be expected.." Sogyo smiles "katen is fun... We were visiting her before we came here..." Shunsui obviously didn't know about this "huh?" Sogyo nods "we were bored and hurting a little..." Shunsui nods understanding "fair enough.." The bird looks at the three, they seemed like good friends.. Almost father and son, it made him curious "what are those two to you? They belong to ukitake don't they.." Shunsui looks at the bird "your right... But could you honestly get away with not liking these two?" He muses, the twins smiles innocently and the bird frowns "I guess you have a point... But they tend to say some scary things.." Shunsui looks amused "they do?" The twins look at shun "we told the truth... We said we could crush them without trying..." Shunsui looks at them and smiles "well I can't fault you there.. It is true... But you should be nice..." The bird sighs "you three are equally scary then.." Shunsui chuckles "something like that... Well thank you for your help in the matter" the bird nods "it wasn't me really... It was jushiro... But thanks..." The twins yawn before looking up,at shun "we are tired.." Shunsui frowns. "Really? Or are you just trying to get me to carry you?" The twins nod and then shunsui sighs "alright... Jump up then.." The twins nod before doing exactly that, jumping into shunsui's arms, he caught them easily and then walks to the edge of the roof "until next time kyouraku taicho.." The bird nods and then shunsui stepped off the roof vanishing, flash stepping to where he first came out.

Shunsui thought it would be interesting exploring this new seritei, but with the situation, he obviously couldn't, he didn't expect to run into anybody though, when he stopped to take out the device to find his way home, an unexpected voice distracts him "kyouraku taicho? What are you doing here.." Shunsui looks around before realising the voice came from below him, he walked to the edge of the roof to see what looked like a little white fluff ball, though in truth he looked very similar to jushiro, only he was smaller and white, however he was recognisable instantly. Shunsui steps off the roof and falls landing gently "little shiro... Or where are my manners.. It's hitsuguya taicho isn't it.." The little captain looked shocked realising it wasn't the captain he knew "h-hai... Who are you..." Shunsui smiles, the twins had fallen asleep in his arms "shunsui kyouraku, a pleasure to meet you"the little Toshiro looked a little surprised "oh... " shunsui looks thoughtful "in regards to what I'm doing, I am going home, was there something you needed of me?" He smiles playfully, Toshiro bites his tongue for a moment "no.. I mistook you for someone else.. My apologies..." Shunsui nods "no apologies needed" up close the little snow cat shared the same grumpy expression as the human Toshiro and was just as cute, the cat looks up at shunsui "you looked like you were looking for something..." Shunsui nods looking at he device in his hands "a signature from my own world, so I can open a tear" Toshiro looks thoughtful "you should try up on sogyoku hill... A lot of tears open up there..." Shunsui looks surprised "really?" Toshiro nods "yeah.. Every few weeks or so one opens there for a short period.." Shunsui smiles "thanks, I'll take a look" Toshiro nods before his curiousity gets the better of him "why are you here?" Shunsui chuckles "rescuing these two little ones" he looks at the children, Toshiro looks unsure "how did they get here? You can only come through a tear" shunsui nods "that's probably true, your ukitake taicho participated in an experiment a day or so ago and these two accidentally followed him home" Toshiro looks thoughtful "I didn't know we were experimenting with tears..." Shunsui shrugs "I don't really care enough to listen to mayuri, I heard it through my ukitake..." Toshiro doesn't seem very surprised by this "ukitake usually does know what's going on..." Shunsui smiles "that he does, but I'll leave you alone now, take care shiro-chan" he smiles playfully before jumping back onto the roof and flash stepping. Toshiro looks surprised then grumbles "it's hitsuguya taicho... What is it with you only men...".

Shunsui with that new peice of information immediately headed up to sogyoku, everything seemed to happen on that hill, maybe the old execution grounds attracted this sort of thing. It turned out that Toshiro was right and he easily picked up a signature from his world, he focused his reiatsu easily to create a tear and instantly recognised his own seritei, even from sogyoku, he recognised jushiro's reaitsu, the twins instantly woke up and as soon as they had stepped into the tear were overcome with relief "home..." Shunsui nods "can go you go home from here?" The twins look a little thoughtful "no..." Shunsui looks thoughtful "alright, I'll take you home then" he closed the tear and with ease and another five minutes he landed quietly on jushiro's roof before dropping down to the ground and then letting the twins go, they straightened up and let's themselves into the room quietly to touch their blade self, realigning their spirit, they instantly felt better and faded, returning home gratefully, shunsui followed them in and noticed that jushiro was now noticeably calming in his sleep, he drops the bakudo then and sits before laying down on the floor sighing and covering his face with his hat, he settled into a peaceful daze, daydreaming.


	11. Chapter 11

Mirrored worlds 11

It was a good few weeks before jushiro recovered, in that time, more extensive experiments had been done and several of the captains had met their counterparts, according to reports, it had resulted in quite a lot of surprises, for example, upon meeting the little snow cat Toshiro, or leopard, as he preferred to be called, rangiku thought he was adorable, by all other accounts, everyone seemed to get along with their counterparts as well. By the time jushiro was healthy again, the two worlds had decided to work together, the animals quickly discovered that they were indeed weak, and with the potential for growth, the respective captains made what you could call treaties, the human captains took days off to train their other selves, it was going to be a long road, but there was no one better to train with. The two shunsui's had started speaking about training but it wasn't until jushiro had completely recovered that he agreed to assist in training his counterpart. Since the other world was not ready for such strong powers yet, the training was decided to happen in the human seritei. Gates had started to be made as a permanent doorway between the worlds and they were built in a protected room near the captains quarters, so they could be kept under constant watch and controlled. Jushiro had his installed while he was unable to work, it saved disturbing his work when he returned to duty.

Jushiro's soul comunicator beeped and looked up from his paperwork to see that it was just a message that his counterpart was on his way over, jushiro nods and neatens his paperwork before standing and leaving his office and going too the portal room. Jushiro leans against the wall and waits, he didn't have to wait long though before his counterpart entered the room through the mirror, jushiro was relieved to see he'd come in human form as requested, it would be easier to train that way, the cat smiles and bows his head 'good morning ukitake taicho' jushiro nods politely 'you too..' He looks thoughtful and then looks at the cat 'forgive my manners, but I need to know what I can call you.. Since sharing a name is confusing..' The cat looks surprised but nods in agreement 'you have a point there... You may call me shiro then' he smiles, jushiro nods 'then shiro San it is, welcome once more to our side' he muses, shiro chuckles 'thank you.. So where do we start taicho?' Jushiro stands 'we start by leaving seritei.. Ah.. You can't flash step can you..' Shiro frowns 'no.. I've never enjoyed the sensation..' Jushiro nods 'well then I'll start there..' Shiro looks surprised then nervous 'hai.' Jushiro smiles and starts heading out 'it's easier then it seems, follow me' shiro does as told and follows the captain out to the courtyard. Jushiro then turns around and faces him 'now, flash step.. Or shunpo, you may have heard both terms.. It is the quickest way to move around seriei, it works by manipulating the reiatsu around you and pushing you forward, much like running in a way.. Do you know the basics of manipulating reiatsu?' Shiro looked confused 'I'm not sure I'm familiar with the term... I wouldn't know...' Jushiro nods and holds his hand forward, Palm up, he effortlessly creates a ball of reiatsu in his hand 'this is reiatsu, it is often described as a shinigami's life force as our reiatsu controls everything we do.. Your reiatsu takes the form of the water you manipulate..' Shiro nods understanding 'so then it's basically controlling water for me? I think I can do that then' jushiro closes his hand and nods 'focus your energies to your hand, if you can, I will judge' shiro was slightly surprised at how forward the captain was and it made him a little edgy however he did as told, focusing on drawing his energy to his hand, his reiatsu took the form of water, jushiro watches until he is satisfied 'that's fine.. You shouldn't have any trouble with flash step at this level' shiro bites his lip nervously 'uh.. Are you sure..' Jushiro smiles 'of course.. I'll explain it easily.. Focus your energy under your feet and use it to project you forward, i found it easy to start with a walk to get used to it, run when you have the idea' shiro looks confused but repeats the words in his head, he sighs and closes his eyes, at first he found it a little hard to focus his energy to his feet, it was rather strange for him. He eventually figured out what the captain meant as the release of tension under his feet pushed him forward, it tripped him up the first few times causing a chuckle from jushiro 'I told you it wasn't hard.. Well done' jushiro turns and flash steps onto a nearby roof, one that shiro would have to use his new found abilities to reach, he waves 'please join me up here shiro-San' shiro looks shocked and sighs before trying out his new step, he remembered saying running made it easier so he tried that, before jumping with a little help of reiatsu, he only just lands on the roof and slips, he would have fallen off if jushiro hadn't caught his hand 'well done, see you can do it, you had nothing to be worried about' shiro had to calm his heart but smiles a little 'thanks..' He had started to think maybe he wouldn't survive this training... Shiro straightens up 's-so what's next.. Taicho' jushiro points toward a rather large mountain in the distance 'we will be going into that direction, we will practice your flash step on the way' he muses, shiro nods and looks toward the mountain 'why so far away..' Jushiro looks thoughtful 'I don't like training in seritei..' Shiro nods 'fair enough..,' jushiro looks at shiro 'I'll follow you, so don't rush, I'll be right with you' shiro nods sighing nervously before walking to the edge of the building and once more used his reiatsu to jump across a narrow gap, he found it easy once he'd got started, after a few minutes it was tiring but the momentum he had gained meant he didn't have to work so hard, jushiro like he promised stayed beside him, supporting him in a strict sort of way.

After getting past the initial fear, shiro actually began to enjoy flash stepping, it was a good half an hour before jushiro told him to stop, they'd well and truly left seritei and were in the middle of nowhere, shiro was exhausted by this point though so he sat down roughly catching his breath, jushiro looks around thoughtfully, unaffected by the slow flash step, he nods and takes off his Haori folding it neatly before sitting and placing it on the ground beside him, without the Haori, shiro noticed that the captain had two zanpakuto Strapped to his waist as well as a big tied to his back that his haori had been covering. Jushiro placed the blades beside him and produced a smaller bag which he gave to shiro 'eat this ok, it will make you feel better' shiro nods taking the bag tiredly, looking inside he found a bento and a water bottle, he suddenly realised how hungry he was 'thank you..' Jushiro nods 'no problem, your going rather well so far' shiro smiles a little 'thanks... But should I be this tired already..' Jushiro nods 'it's perfectly reasonable' shiro starts eating thoughtfully, though curiousity finally got the better of him 'why do you have two blades..' Looking at them beside the captain, one has a beautiful red hilt and a decorative guard, the other however looked plain, completely different, jushiro looks at the blades 'I have two today because I'm going to give you one..' Shiro looks surprised 'what..' Jushiro nods 'eat and I'll explain' shiro nods and does as told but now keeps his attention on the captain, jushiro lifts the blank looking blade putting it in front of him 'this is what's called an asuchi.. It is essentially a blank blade, powerless and empty.. But impressionable... Throughout my training, you will imprint your soul into this blade and in the future, it will become your zanpakuto' shiro nods 'this seems like a big deal...' Jushiro smiles 'something like that, today I will go over how you should care for your blade, I will also start with basic stances' shiro gulps 'that seems like a lot of work... As well as dangerous..' Jushiro chuckles 'work yes, dangerous no.. You won't taste my blade for quite a while, I have sparring swords for fighting' he muses, shiro finished the bento and drank some water before putting it aside, he did feel better now he'd eaten, he wondered if there was something in his food.. 'I feel somewhat relieved to hear that...' Jushiro nods "don't worry, I will push you, but not so much that you will suffer too much" he smiles, this didn't really help shiros nervousness at all.

The first training session would be the hardest, shiro soon found out why jushiro was exactly what he was, after shiro had recovered from the flash step, jushiro gave him his asuchi to tie at his waist, he then gave shiro a wooden sparring blade and then held the partner on his shoulder "now, the idea of a good stance is so that you can't be pushed over in a fight, everything starts with your stance, if you fail you will die... So listen well ok" he smiles, jushiro takes his stance, one foot forward and his other a shoulder width apart behind him, knees bent, two hands on the hilt holding it forward "this is your basic defensive stance, it helps you spread around the weight of any attack, giving you the best chance of completely blocking an attack" shiro watches trying to take it in, he attempts to copy the stance. Jushiro nods and circles him making shiro nervous, jushiro then pushed him lightly which shiro saved himself from falling over but only just "your stance is weak, stand wider apart, the wider base you have, the easier it will be not to fall, bend your knees" shiro grits his teeth fixing his stance until jushiro was satisfied, jushiro then nods "you should practice this, I will test you next session... I won't go easy on you either..." Shiro nods "hai". Jushiro sighs before standing in front of him taking his stance "now each person has a preferred method of fighting, for example I am defensive, anyone else might teach you how to strike first, but I won't... I will teach you defence foremost before anything else, for of course your safety..." Shiro nods "hai" he was taking a mental note of everything that was said, he would write down everything when he sat down for tea again. Jushiro nods "now... The basics of blocking are simply moving your blade in such a way that it counters an attack before it reaches you... You would block if you didn't have a chance to strike as it minimises damage" jushiro steps forward making an obvious swing from his side, shiro jumps back almost tripping with shock, the tip of the wooden blade dragged across his skin though, jushiro stood back "I could have killed you just then, using the time you stepped back, you were completely open and I could have ended your life, keep this in mind and take your stance again, this time I will do the same thing... Use your blade to block me..." Shiro gulps and take his stance gripping his sword tightly, jushiro then repeats his obvious left strike and this time shiro blocked most of it with his blade, jushiro didn't use a strong attack, shiro was just not very strong at all.

Jushiro smiles and withdraws "now you see the difference?" Shiro nods "I do..." Jushiro looks thoughtful "you seem to lack strength at the moment, this will be something you gain without trying, for the time being I will show you some blocking techniques which you can use to minimise your damage" jushiro holds his blade sideways and in one hand while he places his other hand flat on the blade itself "you can use your body force to block, such as evenly spacing your strength like so across the blade, you will find it's a stronger force and you will be able to block most strikes" shiro watches raptly , jushiro then changes his block, holding his blade flat against his lower arm "this is another version, keep in mind though, these blocks can damage you if the attack is too strong, would you like to try these?" Shiro nods taking a defensive stance once more, jushiro nods and changes the direction of the swing, attacking from the head, shiro was surprised for a second and had to change his block but was able to block the weak strike "you surprised me..." Jushiro withdraws "why is that? Did you really expect me not to change my attack pattern?" Shiro looks unsure "I guess I didn't think about that.." Jushiro sighs "battle is not that simple... You must always be prepared to change your tactics in accordance with your partners fighting style..." Shiro nods feeling a little stupid "hai..." Jushiro nods "there's one more thing I need to teach you about blocking..." Jushiro instantly holds his sword straight and pushes it forward stopping the blade just in front of shiros chest, he would have impaled him if he didn't stop "two things... Don't let down your guard..." Jushiro withdrawers and shiro was breathing heavily from the surprise "strikes like this will kill you if they hit a vital organ... So to block these, you can either be extraordinarily accurate, or you will need to redirect the attack, I will teach you how to redirect the attack, it's pretty simple.." Shiro nods, he by now well and truly decided that he never wanted to get on his bad side... Jushiro takes a defensive stance "this one is easiest if I show you how it's done... Please attack me.." Shiro is reluctant about following this order but does so copying what jushiro had done, he held back though, he didn't want to risk hurting anyone, even though his opponent was a million times better, jushiro with ease hit blade and then pushed it to the side in one motion, not stopping the blade but letting the strike miss him entirely "your holding back... You will die if you do that here while fighting me... Just for future reference.. Don't hold back.." Shiro nods withdrawing his blade "hai..." Jushiro nods and continues "do you understand what I just did?" Shiro looks thoughtful "you pushed the blade to the side... In my understanding..." Jushiro nods "exactly, while all the other blocks I've shown you stop a blade, this block doesn't, in fact you can use this to catch your enemy unaware and deal a fatal wound this way, but that's for another time... Show me what you have learned now, I will attack you this time without stopping to give you a rest, prove you have listened..." Shiro nods "hai!" After they had both taken their stances, jushiro stepped forward into an attack from above which was blocked loosely, jushiro didn't waste time attacking from the sides and throwing straight attacks, shiro blocked most of them, taking a few hits here and there, but defiantly improved for the five minutes that they practiced, this was effortless for jushiro, the strikes were weak for him and and it wasn't draining him too much, but shiro unfortunately felt the effects so jushiro let him rest once he was somewhat satisfied and withdrew "not bad... You can rest now" he smiles, shiro looks grateful and sits down tiredly "this is hard work... But you don't seem affected by this at all... I don't get it.." Jushiro sits crossing his legs "I have been training for nearly two thousand years, this is something that comes as easily as breathing for me.. Particularly at this level... I will however leave your training here for today... If you take in too much at once.. You won't learn anything..." Shiro nods "hai... Thank you taicho..." Jushiro chuckles "no problem, when your bruises are healed we can train again..".

Shiro looks thoughtful "you seem different In training then you do normally..." Jushiro looks at him "training is something I've always taken seriously..." Shiro nods "who do you train with..." Jushiro looks thoughtful "it depends on how I feel... On days like today I would train with shunsui... But other days I would train in my inner world against sogyo no kotowari..." Shiro looks a little confused "how does that work.." Jushiro searches for the words before looking at shiro "there will come a point where you if you meditate, you will possibly be able to hear a voice in your head... This seems a little strange to say, but this voice will be your zanpaktou... From that point on you will be able to speak with your zanpaktou and you eventually find yourself in what's called your inner world... It's where your zanpaktou lives inside you, an inner world is a very private thing, there are very few ways which anyone besides you can see the inner world, and only you can hear the residing zanpaktou's voice..." Shiro looks thoughtful "that's pretty amazing..". Jushiro looks a little distant for a moment before nodding and answering shiro "it is... Do you mind if I have a visitor?" Shiro looks a little unsure "no... I guess not.." Jushiro nods and the space beside him glows for a moment before the two innocent looking twins stood there instead, holding hands "hello shiro-chan" shiro looks surprised to see them "uh.. Hi..." The twins happily hugged jushiro tight before settling into his lap comfortably "dad.. You haven't come see us for a while..." Jushiro sighs hugging them both "I know.. Forgive me... I've been a bit busy" the twins sigh "you should play with us tonight.. Please?" Jushiro nods "I owe that much don't i, we can play tonight ok" he smiles, the twins look happy "hai.. " they look at shiro "you know he isn't too bad for a new starter is he... He reminds us of you..." Shiro blushes a little "whys that.." Sogyo smiles "dad started off pretty weak but he learnt quickly.. It took a while before his strength complimented his mind.. That was when he started winning fights against us.." Jushiro chuckles "you too are honest.." Sogyo laughs "we are.. Our name is truth of picese silly" shiro smiled watching, the twins whom seemed so lost before, were now perfectly at home here, and it wasn't a master and blade relationship between the three, it was genuine friendship, sogyo looks at shiro "hey... What's your specialty... You a captain aren't you.." Shiro looks surprised "huh? What do you mean..." Sogyo gets up "your a captain shiro-San... Why.." Shiro blushes a little "well... I guess I'm one of the most powerful in our side... I don't really.." Sogyo cuts him off "what are you good at then?" Jushiro frowns "take it easy you two..." Shiro smiles a little "it's ok... I just got taken off guard...I-I guess I am pretty good at hand to hand fighting.. I guess.. I am not.. Nor ever did feel very comfortable with a blade... Though strangely it's different with this... Asuchi..." The twins look thoughtful then can we play with you?" Jushiro sighs "sogyo... That's not a great idea..." Sogyo pouts a little "we were going to play fair! No tricks or anything... Please.." Shiro looks unsure "what did you want to play?" The twins look hopeful and ouch the air playfully "we want to play fight of course...", jushiro sighs "I don't mind you playing with me... But.. You could hurt seriously hurt someone else.." The twins look depressed "hai..." Shiro sighs feeling a little guilty "well I suppose if you go easy, I can play... But only for a little..." How bad could play fighting be right? The twins look hopefull "we promise!" Jushiro looks at shiro "your absolutely sure about this? It's more dangerous then it sounds... You've already worked hard today... Don't stress yourself too much.." Shiro nods "I'm fine, it can be a short game" jushiro stares for a moment before sighing "fine... I'll set the rules then... No weapons, shunpo, and reiatsu advantages are to be nullified..." Jushiro mainly looks at sogyo "human strengths only..." Sogyo looks ecstatic "hai!" Shiro looks at the kids, he was t sure how fighting them would be... He didn't like attacking children, jushiro looks at shiro "I'm not so worried about your abilities, but don't use any of your melee abilities either, it's not fair..." Shiro nods "hai.." The twins smile and then start glowing, their forms blur and merge, shiro looks shocked when the twins stop glowing, there stood a teen version of the captain, everything looked similar but somehow more noble, powerful even, the teen smiled "we will fight this way" jushiro nods "good... Children shouldn't fight.." Sogyo nods "hai!" Shiro stands, the twins suddenly looked like a rather strong foe, however their robes would be their downfall if anything, their sleeves were ng and ontop of the heavy amount of fabric the already wore, a large cloak sat on their shoulders, their robes trailed on the ground slightly, sogyo moves to a clearing before standing defensively "ready to start" shiro faces them standing defensively also, jushiro nods "you may begin.. I'm watching.." Sogyo nods before stepping forward and punching forward, shiro only just dodged and felt the wind by his side, he immediately countered to be blocked though, from just this much, he could tell sogyo was strong and fast, his agility was not restrained to his child forms, shiro could already tell that he wouldn't be fast enough but as long as he dodged he would still stand a chance.

The fight was very fast paced and the longer shiro fought, the more he was impressed by sogyo's fighting ability, he could switch from a fist fight to kick within seconds. Shiro was being backed into a corner until he had seen most of what sogyo could do and he tried to fight back, this was about the time that sogyo slowed down, easing up so shiro had a chance, he didn't waste this chance and it wasn't long before they were equal. After what seemed like forever jushiro clapped his hands and sogyo jumped back and smiled, he had enjoyed the whole fight, shiro was tired again and caught his breathe "well done.. It seems you don't lie... You aren't bad at hand to hand..." Jushiro muses "you would be pretty dangerous if you combined your reiatsu in a fight.." Sogyo chuckles "that was fun, you should play with us again" shiro smiles "thank you taicho..." He looks at sogyo "and you surprised me..." Sogyo smiles "whys that?" Shiro looks thought "well truthfully I doubted your fighting... Usually one has one skill that they are gifted at...". Jushiro chuckles "well 2000 years is a long time... What else is there to do other then to hone your skills in that much time..." Sogyo nods in agreement "dad has a point,.." Shiro nods "your right.. I guess I'm Nieve... But then would I be correct in assuming taicho... Is just as good as you... Sogyo..." Sogyo nods "hai, a zanpaktou learns with their master..." Shiro looks at the sitting captain, he just kept getting more frightening "I have quite a scary counterpart..." Jushiro chuckles "not exactly... Though you should rest before we head back, flash stepping will drain you again of your energy" shiro nods and sits "hai" sogyo looks at jushiro "then you should play with us while he is resting... Please?" Jushiro sighs "you not going to give this up are you..." Sogyo sighs "we miss playing with you..." After a moment jushiro looks apolegetic "it will have to wait until this evening... It's rude to ignore a guest..." Sogyo sighs "hai.. But we won't go easy on you then.. Be careful.." Sogyo pouts a little before hugging jushiro and fading, Jushiro nods "hai... Don't worry.. I won't disappoint you.." Shiro looks thoughtful "you have quite the scary pair of children..." Jushiro nods "a lot of people say that... But I don't think so..." Shiro chuckles "I'm not surprised you say that.." Jushiro smiles "would you like some tea before you go home?" Shiro nods and smiles back "hai, sounds good taicho.."


	12. Chapter 12

Mirrored worlds 10

~the human seritei~

snapping his soul communicator shut, shunsui sighs and looks at jushiro, he was sitting beside jushiro once more while he slept, he'd been noticeablysleepijng worse as the day went on, at first shunsui had assumed it was because of his illness, but sogyo was in fact absent from his usual home, their blade sat empty and jushiro was in fact growing more upset in sleep. Shunsui rests his palm over jushiro's forehead and murmured a bakudo that would keep jushiro asleep until he broke the bakudo, any stress in his condition would ultimately make everything worse and he was already on his death bed. Shunsui stands with a sigh and leaves the room giving jushiro one last worried glance before flash stepping to twelfth division, it took a good hour before he finally got something helpful out of mayuri, a hand held device which could detect if there were spiritual anomalies anywhere near him, he also had a device which if he put his reiatsu into could open a tear, using these two devices, it took him another short while but he finally entered the right world, after discovering another world of course, but he ignored it for now.

~the animal seritei~

Using what he'd been told about the other world, he immediately recognises the overgrown seritei that was the main difference between the worlds, after jumping onto a rooftop he determined he was around sixth division which allowed him to find himself some directions and flash step towards the thirteenth division. He had hidden his presence so he was spiritually invisible, and if anyone saw him, he was flash stepping so fast that he immediately broke eyeline, he'd been told none could flash step in this world, nor had they learned to be spiritually aware, it was obvious to shunsui that this was the case, he recognised many spiritual pressures yet they were not nearly as high as he was used to, he could probably crush everyone in this world by simply flaring his reiatsu, of course he wouldn't but the possibility was there. Shunsui came to a stop outside of jushiro's office which remarkably looked very similar in this world, the gardens were controlled here, not that he expected any less, but it was still different to the rest of seritei. Unfortunately rukia was sitting on the roof thinking the moment shunsui arrived, she instantly recognised who it was by the blamboyant pick haori "t-taicho..." It didn't take her more then a moment to realise that this captain was not her captain though, shunsui looked up and smiles, a little surprised seeing the majestic looking eagle instead of rukia, but he immediately recognised her "I'm afraid I'm not the captain in your mind..." Rukia looks instantly nervous "who are you..." Shunsui tips his hat politely "shunsui kyouraku... From the world of the humans..." Rukia looks shocked "what... How did you get here... What are you doing here..." With shock she realised he also wore the captains haori, shunsui frowns "well it seems someone important from our world followed your taicho back here..." He smiles "don't worry, I'm not here to cause trouble... Though.. I did want to say... You look rather majestic up there Kuchiki-San..." Rukia turns her head away shyly "t-thank you... Sir..." He chuckles "ah, I'm not so important, don't be so stiff Kuchiki San." She continues to looks shy "so where do you need to go..." Shunsui looks thoughtful "I need to visit your taicho, he is looking after my guest for me.." She looks unsure "I wasn't aware he had a guest... he is in his quarters... I will show you the way.." He nods "after you my lady" he muses, rukia was a lot weirded out by the random appearance, but jushiro had mentioned that he had met the other worlds shunsui, so she figured it would be ok to show him the way, and so she did, shunsui kept up with her easily even with her flying, it took another ten minutes to get to the captains quarters which of course shunsui recognised, he seen the same building for more then a thousand years. Rukia lands gracefully on the roof and shunsui tips his hat "much appreciated my lady... Though I must apologise... I'm going to have to wake your captain..." Rukia wasn't even aware jushiro was sleeping and looked shocked "h-hai..." Shunsui nods before knocking quietly and entering the room, rukia was anxious, she could tell this other shunsui was dangerous but she also knew she had no hope of scratching him if it came down to a fight so she hoped her captain didn't mind.

It was a familiar sight when shunsui walked into the room, jushiro was indeed asleep, shunsui could tell by the peaceful reiatsu even before seeing it. Jushiro was in his human form, his cat ears and tail would flick occasionally as he dreamed and he had an adorable little smile as he cuddled the two twins in his sleep, sogyo was relatively peaceful but it was obvious that they were not where they belonged. Sogyo's reaitsu was higher then jushiro's, not so high that it would affect him but still high enough it hinted where they truly belonged. Shunsui sighs before kneeling beside the sleeping jushiro and gently disturbs jushiro, he stirs with a yawn and shunsui content sits and waits until jushiro notices him, it doesn't take long and jushiro mistakes him for the bird "shun... You know it's creepy you sitting there like that?" Shunsui lifted his hat "really... My juu doesn't mind it.." Jushiro looks shocked realising it wasn't the bird "k-kyouraku..." Shunsui nods taking of his hat and sets it on the ground beside him before waving a hand cheerfully "hai, that's me..." Jushiro gently tries to free hiself from the twins once more to be met by the same result as before, they wouldn't let go and jushiro sighs, shunsui smiles "it's pointless trying when they are like this... Don't worry" jushiro looks at shunsui ".. Is that why your here..." Shunsui nods "yeah... See juu is in a bad shape right now... And normally it wouldn't be such a rush... But if he wakes up now to find his children gone... He will shatter..." Jushiro looks a little shocked "... These two are that important..." Shunsui nods "important as breathing..." Jushiro frowns not understanding "why... " shunsui looks thoughtful "imagine it this way... A long time ago you made a friend, that friend followed you everywhere and grew with you, after so many years.. What do you think if that someone who'd always been there were to simply vanish..." Jushiro looks unsure "I guess I'd be pretty upset..." Shunsui nods "for juu... Those two are that one person... Normally he would worry but he could probably handle it but now... It would be disastrous... Do you understand.." Jushiro nods "I guess I do..." Shunsui smiles "but that is why I'm here... To save the day..." He looks at the twins "I can free you... But you seem to have gotten used to having them beside you.." Jushiro blushes a little "h-hai..." Shunsui nods "did you realise you have the potential to find your own zanpaktou..." Jushiro looks surprised then unsure "what do you mean..." Shunsui sighs "I'm saying that inside you.. You have a lot of untouched potential... In particular... Your zanpaktou spirit is waiting for you... But that's none of my business" shunsui yawns and stretches "I suppose I'll free you now..".

Jushiro looked confused and didn't understand but nods, shunsui stands and goes to the twins dropping down to his knees and puts his hands gently on their foreheads for a moment, it's only a moment later before they stir reluctantly letting jushiro go, shunsui then easily picks them up gently smiling playfully "now you two... You really are a worry.." The twins look confused for a second before cuddling gratefully to shunsui instantly getting upset "shun..." Shunsui sighs playfully "not the the water works.. I'm not that scary... Or will I have to force it out of you" he threatens with a chuckle, the twins blush a little and rub their eyes smiling a little "like we would.. Baka... You drink too much.." Shunsui fakes hurt "ah.. So cold.. So mean.." He smiles and starts to tickle them anyway "I'll make you regret that.." The twins instantly tried to escape but fails laughing, jushiro sat up watching with shock, after all that he'd been through with them, they were just playing around like that... Shunsui finally freed the twins and the scrambled away to catch their breath "you the mean one.." They then tackle shunsui which of ou ours shunsui can avoid but he lets them "gah.. You got me..." He dramaticly pretends to die "good bye cruel world.." The twin look a little confused and shunsui actaully does hold his breath until the twins start getting worried "hey... Hello... Shun..." This was when he scared them "zoo!" And the gullible twins screamed a little "ahhh... Your horrible shun!" Shunsui chuckles "I already knew that.. Now. Want to tell me why your so far from home?" The twins smile and then look unsure "we.. We don't know... But we woke up here... And we couldn't go home... Or talk to dad..." Shunsui looks thoughtful "that sounds scary..." The twins nod starting to get upset, shunsui pokes them playfully "aww come one, don't start that... I'm taking you home now, promise.." He smiles, the twins look surprised and then smile "hai!" Shunsui nods "good boys.. Now I think you should thank captain ukitake for looking after you... I'll bet you two caused him quite a bit of grief...". Jushiro internally groans.. More then a little bit... The twins look a little guilty "we attacked him... But we were scared... We are sorry.." Shunsui raises an eyebrow "why would you two be scared..." They look a little unsure "one of us was caught and we couldn't escape..." Shunsui frowns "did you hurt him?" The twins look thoughtful "we cut him and blew him up..." Shunsui sighs "mattaku... Where are you manners?" The twins look guilty "we did heal him..." Jushiro looks surprised "you did?" Shunsui looks over "you didn't realise?" Jushiro looks thoughtful "well... I did notice but I didn't know why..." Sogyo looks at jushiro "we are sorry ukitake taicho..." Jushiro sighs and nods "it's fine... But next time you can just talk to me ok... I really don't mind just talking... Talking is good.." Shunsui smiles "right.. Now you two little fish need to get off me so we can go home..." The twins nod and stand up beside him and pull him up before going to pick up shuns hat, putting it in his hands, shunsui chuckles "thank you" he then looks at jushiro "sorry about all this... These two can be a handful so thanks for looking after them" jushiro nods smiling "no problem... Warning might be useful next time though" he chuckles, shunsui laughs "warning... Even their dad doesn't get that" jushiro sighs surprised "oh dear..." Shunsui stands up and the twins takes his hands happily, the twins then seemingly decide they've forgotten something and go over and hug jushiro "thank you ukitake taicho..." Jushiro blushes a little and hugs them back "like I said... No problem..." They smile and return to shunsui's side and shunsui nods before letting himself out "take care ukitake taicho".

The twins look up at shunsui "is dad ok..." Shunsui nods "yeah... Though he doesn't know your gone yet... But it can be out secret ok" he smiles, sogyo nods "hai..." They look towards the serieitei "with the right hand leading them... This gotei could be equals to us... Ukitake taicho had somewhat decent skills even with lack of knowledge..." Shunsui nods "right now they are weak, but yes.. I do agree, it's obvious that they have huge potential" the twins frown "we are not sure if we would be mirrored as well... But it does seem like a possibility..." Shunsui looks thoughtful "your right... I wonder if it would be dangerous teaching them though.." He muses. The twins let go of shunsui's hand before jumping up on his shoulder and then onto the roof, shunsui looks surprised and follows "where are you two going". Sogyo sensed the bird on the roof and jumped up landing a few steps away, shunsui looks surprised "ah, I wondered if I was going to meet you.." The bird not expecting the children jumps and then looks at his counterpart "kyouraku...", the bird looks at the phone "did I miss something?" Shunsui smiles "nah, I didn't warn you I was coming..." The bird sighs "I see...". Shunsui looks playful "I'm all about surprises..." The bird sits up and adjusts his hat "it's not just you it seems... Those two kids there are rather scary too.." Shunsui looks at the twins before looking thoughtful "that's true... They are best friends with my katen so it's to be expected.." Sogyo smiles "katen is fun... We were visiting her before we came here..." Shunsui obviously didn't know about this "huh?" Sogyo nods "we were bored and hurting a little..." Shunsui nods understanding "fair enough.." The bird looks at the three, they seemed like good friends.. Almost father and son, it made him curious "what are those two to you? They belong to ukitake don't they.." Shunsui looks at the bird "your right... But could you honestly get away with not liking these two?" He muses, the twins smiles innocently and the bird frowns "I guess you have a point... But they tend to say some scary things.." Shunsui looks amused "they do?" The twins look at shun "we told the truth... We said we could crush them without trying..." Shunsui looks at them and smiles "well I can't fault you there.. It is true... But you should be nice..." The bird sighs "you three are equally scary then.." Shunsui chuckles "something like that... Well thank you for your help in the matter" the bird nods "it wasn't me really... It was jushiro... But thanks..." The twins yawn before looking up,at shun "we are tired.." Shunsui frowns. "Really? Or are you just trying to get me to carry you?" The twins nod and then shunsui sighs "alright... Jump up then.." The twins nod before doing exactly that, jumping into shunsui's arms, he caught them easily and then walks to the edge of the roof "until next time kyouraku taicho.." The bird nods and then shunsui stepped off the roof vanishing, flash stepping to where he first came out.

Shunsui thought it would be interesting exploring this new seritei, but with the situation, he obviously couldn't, he didn't expect to run into anybody though, when he stopped to take out the device to find his way home, an unexpected voice distracts him "kyouraku taicho? What are you doing here.." Shunsui looks around before realising the voice came from below him, he walked to the edge of the roof to see what looked like a little white fluff ball, though in truth he looked very similar to jushiro, only he was smaller and white, however he was recognisable instantly. Shunsui steps off the roof and falls landing gently "little shiro... Or where are my manners.. It's hitsuguya taicho isn't it.." The little captain looked shocked realising it wasn't the captain he knew "h-hai... Who are you..." Shunsui smiles, the twins had fallen asleep in his arms "shunsui kyouraku, a pleasure to meet you"the little Toshiro looked a little surprised "oh... " shunsui looks thoughtful "in regards to what I'm doing, I am going home, was there something you needed of me?" He smiles playfully, Toshiro bites his tongue for a moment "no.. I mistook you for someone else.. My apologies..." Shunsui nods "no apologies needed" up close the little snow cat shared the same grumpy expression as the human Toshiro and was just as cute, the cat looks up at shunsui "you looked like you were looking for something..." Shunsui nods looking at he device in his hands "a signature from my own world, so I can open a tear" Toshiro looks thoughtful "you should try up on sogyoku hill... A lot of tears open up there..." Shunsui looks surprised "really?" Toshiro nods "yeah.. Every few weeks or so one opens there for a short period.." Shunsui smiles "thanks, I'll take a look" Toshiro nods before his curiousity gets the better of him "why are you here?" Shunsui chuckles "rescuing these two little ones" he looks at the children, Toshiro looks unsure "how did they get here? You can only come through a tear" shunsui nods "that's probably true, your ukitake taicho participated in an experiment a day or so ago and these two accidentally followed him home" Toshiro looks thoughtful "I didn't know we were experimenting with tears..." Shunsui shrugs "I don't really care enough to listen to mayuri, I heard it through my ukitake..." Toshiro doesn't seem very surprised by this "ukitake usually does know what's going on..." Shunsui smiles "that he does, but I'll leave you alone now, take care shiro-chan" he smiles playfully before jumping back onto the roof and flash stepping. Toshiro looks surprised then grumbles "it's hitsuguya taicho... What is it with you only men...".

Shunsui with that new peice of information immediately headed up to sogyoku, everything seemed to happen on that hill, maybe the old execution grounds attracted this sort of thing. It turned out that Toshiro was right and he easily picked up a signature from his world, he focused his reiatsu easily to create a tear and instantly recognised his own seritei, even from sogyoku, he recognised jushiro's reaitsu, the twins instantly woke up and as soon as they had stepped into the tear were overcome with relief "home..." Shunsui nods "can go you go home from here?" The twins look a little thoughtful "no..." Shunsui looks thoughtful "alright, I'll take you home then" he closed the tear and with ease and another five minutes he landed quietly on jushiro's roof before dropping down to the ground and then letting the twins go, they straightened up and let's themselves into the room quietly to touch their blade self, realigning their spirit, they instantly felt better and faded, returning home gratefully, shunsui followed them in and noticed that jushiro was now noticeably calming in his sleep, he drops the bakudo then and sits before laying down on the floor sighing and covering his face with his hat, he settled into a peaceful daze, daydreaming.


	13. Chapter 13

Mirrored worlds 13

The two retsu unohana's had begun training as well, the black panther had become fascinated by the extent of the humans healing abilities, the human had thus agreed to train her counterpart in the ways of kido and such. The human had understood that with the beginning of the training, the panther would come access many new things that she would otherwise not understand. So it came as no surprise when retsu-San, the panther explained symptoms of low reiatsu. Unohana taicho took no more then half an hour to enter the other world and arrive at the thirteenth, knocking gently before letting herself in as she would in her own world, the panther still sat beside ukitake's bed in her human form, near identical to her counterpart only she wore black fabric to cover her breasts, her belly was bare and fur clothed her sides back and arms, her hands were human, her fur suited her and her form was no less graceful because of it. Her face much like all the other animals human form, the remains of her animal face was tattooed delicately onto her human face, her eyes remaining catlike, her ears also still remained on her head sitting on the midst of her neat black hair, she wore the typical shinigami pants though bare footed, her tail curled around her hips delicately. She looked up to the captains entrance and then looked back worried to ukitake. Retsu upon entering the room could immediately tell the captains reiatsu was extremely low, but she didn't think it was dangerous yet, she also seemed to realise that retsu-San, the panther, seemed very close to the bedridden ukitake, perhaps it was the youth but it seemed a lot of the captains here often let too much emotion into heir work, something that the human world frowned upon.

Putting this aside the captain sat down on the opposite side of the bed and nods politely 'good afternoon retsu-San' the panther smiles a little bowing 'taicho..' Unohana looked at the sleeping cat 'may I wake your ukitake-San?' The panther nodded 'of course.. I recommend scratching his ears taicho... He wakes up happier that way' unohana looks a little surprised and smiles 'of course...'. At the panthers request she gently scratched behind the sleeping captains ears and he stirred with a purr and looks around tiredly 'unohana taicho..' He takes a moment to realise there were two of them and he looks surprised then unsure '.. And unohana-taicho..?.. I'm not that tired... Am?' Unohana smiles 'your not that tired taicho' he looks a little relieved 'well I'm glad to hear that..', the panther giggles a little 'I asked her here...' Ukitake nods 'that's fine.. ' he weakly sits up and unohana gently stops him 'it's fine, you can relax taicho.. It seems you seem ill' ukitake nods resting his head on his paws 'I feel fine.. Just.. Tired... ' he yawns 'I can barely move..' Unohana smiles 'there's a reason for that... Your reiatsu is lower then your used to... ' ukitake looks a little confused trying to remember if he'd been told about reiatsu, he did remember it being mentioned after a moment 'reiatsu... It's your power right?' Unohana nods 'you managed to use a lot of it' she muses, ukitake looks a little clueless 'is that bad..' Unohana couldn't help being amused but his innocence 'well if you were sick it might be, but not this time, your fine' ukitake yawns 'so how did I manage to get into this dilemma? And what do I need to do now..' He tried to look interested but he was too tired, unohana smiled 'I've heard you have been training.. Is that correct? What did you learn' jushiro tries to think through the want to sleep 'flash step and swordsmanship..' Retsu nods 'flash step would have done it.. Perhaps you overdid it a little.. But no matter, I'll use this as a lesson for you both' she smiles and looks at the panther 'retsu-San, you can do this for a moment so you understand' unohana reaches into her bag and pulled out a wooden block with strings attached to each end and hands it to the panther 'this is a soul conversion block, the most basic and easiest to understand' the panther takes it unsure and inspects the block curiously 'how does it work?' Unohana looks at ukitake who had dozed off again, head on paws, she smiles 'place one end of the rope under ukitake's paws, it doesn't matter if he is asleep' the panther nods and gently lifts the captains paw leaving the rope under it, he stirred but didn't wake. Unohana nods 'now you hold the other end and focus your reiatsu, like I told you how, your reiatsu will go through the block and change to suit ukitake taicho's reiatsu, thus replenishing his own, it's not recommended you do this for a long perioud as it also drains your own reiatsu, but it will give him more of a chance to move' the panther nods listening and closes her eyes to focus, a kido mark appeared on the block glowing gently and the rope under ukitake's paws glowed as well as his paws as well.

After a little, unohana stopped the panther 'careful now, it you will be the same, I will take it from here' the panther nodded and let go of the rope, the block stopped glowing then and unohana took up the rope to continue 'do me a favour.. Meditate for me, try and realise the difference in your power now.. This is important for knowing your limit' the panther nodded and did as instructed, she had with help got a basic idea of her reiatsu and it took her moment but she could eventually sense the difference in her power, just as asked, she looked at unohana 'reiatsu take time to recover doesn't it' unohana nodded 'it may take a few days, perhaps a week if like ukitake-San, and you lose most of your reiatsu, it depends on the person..' The panther nods thoughtful, unohana looks at the sleeping captain 'may I enquire as to what you know of ukitake taicho's condition..' The panther looks a little surprised then frowns 'I believe his condition is caused from his original experimentation, it causes his body to fail.. I haven't yet found a way to prevent this from happening... But I can usually restart his organs..' She looks depressed at this, unohana looks thoughtful 'I see... I may just be able to offer some assistance with that' the panther looks hopeful 'is that so?' Unohana nodded 'I have yet been able to cure my own ukitake's condition... But I can give you medicine to strengthen your ukitake's body..' She once more stopped transferring reiatsu as jushiro would be fine now, she gently pulled back the blankets and held her hands over the sleeping captain, her hands glowed as she concentrated and nodded a little disturbed 'his soul is strange... Just what experimentation happened to him..' The panther looked worried again and sighs 'he never told anyone.. I do know when the human that saved him did so, he was about to die..' Unohana concentrates and the sleeping captains form glowed for a moment before the glow focused on what looked like deep scars around his body, the panther looked shocked 'what is this..' Unohana frowns 'the scars... The remainder of what the experiments did too him... And his body is torn.. Its amazing he is still so healthy..' The panther looks guilty 'can anything be done?' Unohana sighs 'I don't think so.. I'm not sure even if surgery could fix it.. It's healed this way...' The panther looks upset and unohana relaxes her kido hiding the scars once more before reaching into her bag and pulling out a small container that rattled, she gave this to the panther along with the conversion block 'you should have ukitake taicho take one of these everyday... I have his counterpart take them and he rather dislikes the taste.. So it might become a bit of a hassle.. I'm not sure if you have similar tastes.. But tea often helped swallow it down' the panther nods 'hai, I'll keep that in mind..' She looked at ukitake thoughtfully before scratching his ear, in sleep he purred gently and sighed relaxed. Unohana smiles gently 'I must admit... My ukitake is rather childish at times.. It seems as your ukitake has some quirks as well..' The panther nods 'hai... He loves sweets.. And he will love you if you give him any sort of attention.. He adores it.. Particularly his ears and belly if he is in the mood.. He rather enjoys sitting in laps..'.

Unohana can't help but smile 'he reminds me of a house cat.. But isn't he a bit big for laps?' The panther smiles back 'perhaps, but I don't think anyone minds... Even kyouraku taicho gives him attention... Though there might be a deeper meaning to that..' She sighs 'something to do with sake perhaps..' Unohana sighs 'what a worry..'. Ukitake suddenly sneezed in his sleep surprising the two girls, they both resisted a laugh as not to wake him, even breaking through unohana's work facade. It was obvious ukitake was feeling better as he curled up in his sleep, and sighed before falling Ito deep sleep again. Unohana nods 'well I had better return home, I'm sure you can handle most things until your next training session, so I will leave you like this.. Remember to keep an eye on your reiatsu ok' the panther nods smiling 'hai taicho, thank you' unohana nods and stands with her medic bag before letting herself out, the panther watched her go before standing and changing back into her panther form, before curling up beside jushiro and sighing happily before falling asleep. She often did curl up with jushiro, and he with her, it was comforting as they were similar and naturally cuddly, dangerous but cuddly animals, they probably had a little something more then friendship, but perhaps they didn't even know this.


	14. Chapter 14

Mirrored worlds 14

Unohana taicho, the human counterpart reported what had happened to the human ukitake and asked him to perhaps be a little more gentle with the little bobcat in which he admitted maybe he was to rough, he would counter that next time. After unohana had gone home and the two big cats had both decided to go to sleep, the cats ended up sleeping for the remainder of the night and next morning, cuddled to each other happily. Jushiro woke early feeling much better, he got up and stretched with a yawn, accidentally waking retsu who slept lightly. Retsu woke in much the same manner, stretching and yawning before sitting and smiling at jushiro 'how do you feel today?' Jushiro smiles 'perfect, the two of you really fixed me up' retsu nods 'unohana taught me how' jushiro nuzzles her lovingly 'well thank you.. I owe you.. Both?.. It's confusing with two of you..' He chuckles and retsu nips his ear playfully 'I'm sure we are not the only one.. Are you working today?' Jushiro twitches his ears 'well.. I don't know.. I feel like I should practice what I learnt:: but I also think I should do my paperwork..' Retsu looks thoughtful 'both of those are important... Perhaps you should let your body recover another day..' Jushiro looks thoughtful 'if you think so, I will' retsu nods 'hai' jushiro suddenly pushes her over playfully before nuzzling her belly making her laugh, he jumped away before she could get him though, retsu sits up with a playful sigh 'will you perhaps be patient enough to do your paperwork today..' Jushiro lays on his belly innocently resting his head on his paws, his tail flicked playfully 'what do you think?' She smiled 'I don't think you are..' There were some very subtle differences between the captains, most were because of lack of understanding and age, they were no older then a thousand years and their youth provided a sense of innocence which made them different, in fact, if she was given a choice, unlike her counterpart, she would probably play with ukitake... Though a lot of people would, he could be serious at times, but most of the time he was a lot like a kid, it wasn't hard for ukitake to convince retsu to skip work, and once he took off out of the division, retsu followed him happily. 'I thought I said to take it easy ukitake -San..' Jushiro smiles 'I'm not working that hard' he says while jogging, it didn't take too long scaling roofs and such to get out of seritei and head out to the forests where they climbed trees, jumping from the tops to get to their destination. Their destination was a place that they had found on one of their adventures, adventures which took place when jushiro needed a change of pace or some stress relief, jushiro adored exploring and having fun, in a good mood shunsui would fly over head chatting to him and they would both disappear for the day, it worried rukia a lot at times.

They finally came to the clearing, a river ran just at the edge of it and the other side was a rock wall covered in vines, there was also a little cave behind those vines, jushiro sat in the centre recovering his breath for a moment before running and jumping into the water playfully, retsu watched amused at the captains playing. Jushiro sits in the water and then looks at retsu 'are you going to join me?' Retsu smiles 'no, it's fine, I'll need a bath later' jushiro lays on his belly in the water and stares her down playfully before running to pounce on her, drenched, she only just Dodges and runs a few steps away.. Jushiro then starts chasing her determined to make her wet too, when he finally caught her, he tackled her playfully 'I knew I'd catch you eventually..' Retsu sighs, the water was cold 'jushiro.. You are a child..' Jushiro smiles innocently 'really?'. Retsu often thought that maybe the experimentation had caused him to have a childish mind, she was reminded of the scars and it wasn't so unbelievable 'yes..' She playfully bites him and pushes him starting a play fight, anyone who was with jushiro often couldn't help falling into the same childish state for a few hours. After a fair while of play fighting, jushiro tired and curled up beside the river quietly, retsu nuzzled him gently 'you ok?' Jushiro nods 'I'm just resting.. You?' Retsu smiles and laid beside him 'I'm perfectly fine..' Jushiro shuffles over to rest his head against her 'thank you for coming with me' retsu looks playful 'you didn't really leave me a choice..' Jushiro looks thoughtful 'I guess I didn't... My apologies' retsu shakes her head 'it's fine.. I don't mind.. I've had fun' he sighs gently 'I'm glad I'm not the only one..' Retsu rested her head over jushiro gently and relaxes and within minutes of peace, jushiro was asleep, retsu stayed awake and comfortable watching over the sleeping jushiro, but she was startled when he suddenly woke and panted roughly, retsu nuzzled him worried 'are you ok..' Jushiro shook his head and tried to stand before collapsing, panting and whimpering.. '.. Can't... Breathe.. Hurts...' Outwardly the captain was fine, however retsu himmediately recognised the signs, she quickly changed form ignoring her nudity for the moment and gently inspects jushiro's form, his heart was failing.

Jushiro was quickly becoming weak, panicking a little, in turn retsu couldn't help but panic a little, she quickly had to remember her training, retsu had shown her how to restart a heart and she had turned out to be ok at the effort as well. She put her hands on the captains chest and concentrated, she could immediately feel his life force fading so she made sure she did it right, focusing she spoke an incantation, a healing bakudo, at first it didn't work, but after a moment she felt his health stop declining, slowly calming, in a few minutes he was regular once more and retsu trusted that he would remain fine, though she still watched him like a hawk. Jushiro calmed slowly as well taking in grateful breaths, his strength had been sapped, he did however have the decency to avoid looking at retsu in her human form once he realised, despite a less sensitive approach to human forms, they did still practice decency, retsu blushed once she had treated jushiro though she wanted to be able to help just incase, she however had no clothes with her, so she transformed despite the toll it would start taking from her. She had become very tired herself now after treating jushiro and changing, so she laid beside jushiro worried and looked at him "are you feeling ok now?" Jushiro nods "thank you... I guess I owe you again.." Retsu shakes her head "nonsense... You still here is payment enough.. Can you stand..." He shakes his head "I'm sorry... I'm to tired.." Retsu smiles gently "it's fine.. We can stay here while you rest" jushiro nods and drifts off to sleep and retsu curled up against him so she could make sure he stayed well, namely listen to his heart. Eventually she fell asleep and woke when it was dark, jushiro had slept peacefully but he could no longer stay here. Retsu then decided that since it was dark, she would carry him home. She transformed though used the darkness to hide her lack of clothing, it was hard to carry those sort of things around when you were a panther so she often came to situations like this, so she wasn't overly sensitive about it. She gently picked up the sleeping captain who stirred and cuddled to her, he was afraid of being carried and only really put up with it when he was ill, or it was unohana carrying him. Retsu shivered lightly and started walking, her human form was much more sensitive to the elements, jushiro was quietly lulled back to sleep when retsu started humming and he fortunately fell asleep before paying attention to the fact he was being held as he was.

Retsu was able to successfully sneak back into thirteenth carrying the captain without showing herself off further and got him into bed so she could once again change into her more comfortable and covered form, she decided to go back to her division though once she had again made sure it was safe to leave him unattended. She had been away from the division for almost two days now so she didn't go to bed, she decided to catch up on paperwork instead, reading through all her notes as well, writing down the symptoms if his latest attack into her treatment diary, she hoped using this method, in the future she could better help the sick captain.


End file.
